Word: idea
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Each week, Rhee gets e-mails from superintendents in other cities. They understand that if she succeeds, Rhee could do something no one has done before: she could prove that low-income urban kids can catch up with kids in the suburbs. The radicalism of this idea cannot be overstated. Now, without proof that cities can revolutionize their worst schools, there is always a fine excuse. Superintendents, parents and teachers in urban school districts lament systemic problems they cannot control: poverty, hunger, violence and negligent parents. They bicker over small improvements such as class size and curriculum, like diplomats touring...
...students' test scores improve over time under a given teacher. Rhee wants to use that data to decide who gets paid more--and, in combination with classroom evaluation, who keeps the job. But many teachers do not trust her to do this fairly, and the union bristles at the idea of giving up tenure, the exceptional job security that teachers enjoy...
...muted on education; it was McCain who made the boldest case for reform. And Obama's decision to elevate campaign adviser Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford education professor whose positions are often aligned with those of the unions, to lead his education transition team worries the reform community. "The idea that Obama was wholeheartedly behind school reform might have been the triumph of hope over evidence," says Mike Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington...
Messing with the al-Hais brothers is not a good idea. Local lore has it that when al-Qaeda kidnapped Sheik Mohammed a couple of years ago, it demanded $120,000 for his release and added one other demand: that his home, the centerpiece of the al-Hais compound, be leveled. The family complied. But as soon as he was free, Sheik Mohammed ordered the house to be rebuilt exactly as before. To underscore his defiance, he named the new building al-Tahadi, or the Challenge...
...Normally, E.U. countries must obtain approval from Brussels to reduce their VAT rates. But Europe's rescue package might include a provision for countries to cut their VAT rate unilaterally. In snarking at this idea, Merkel and Sarkozy are probably sending a message to other member states that are contemplating following Britain's lead...