From The Washington Times, October 21, 2009.

By Aaron K. Chatterji and Christopher Gergen

OPINION/ANALYSIS:

The U.S. Department of Education recently unveiled a $650 million fund to support innovation in America’s schools by supporting local programs with a track record of raising student achievement — as well as investing in programs that show promise.

The logic is simple…(read more)

From The Washington Times, October 7, 2009.

By Christopher Gergen

There are two reactions when one sees something that is not quite right in the world: make a mental note and keep on moving or stop and try to fix it. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit four years ago, Liz McCartney and her boyfriend, Zack Rosenberg, drove from the District to New Orleans to see how they could help.

At the time, she was running an area after-school program and he was a criminal defense attorney. They ended up in St. Bernard, a parish just outside of New Orleans. As Mr. Rosenberg says, “We were grossly unprepared for what we saw.”

“We just wanted to pitch in and help out,” Ms. McCartney recalls. “I naively thought that six months later, you’d see all kinds of progress. [But it] looked like the storm had just rolled through.”…(see more).