this is what i'm in the middle of right now: the question of who's going to do the d.c. voucher program evaluation. it seems minor but it's actually very important and therefore very political.

many of the people quoted in that article i've met, and most or all of them are probably hoping to be involved in the evaluation somehow. the reason is that voucher evaluations in the past have been scientifically dubious, and part of the planning of the d.c. program is that it would be done right from the beginning, so that the evaluation could answer the question, once and for all, of whether vouchers are good for education. of course nina rees and co. are hoping that the answer to that question is yes, and so they're likely to pick researchers who have records of finding positive results for vouchers. sure, they may be outspoken voucher proponents, but so are rees, paige, and all our friends at ED, so who cares.

in any case it's going to be interesting. stay tuned.