Diane Ravitch discussed her new book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education."

Frederick M. Hess, AEI director of education policy studies and Education Week blogger, released today his second annual "Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings." Traditional measures of research productivity, which focus on academic publication, are useful in their own right, but do not offer as much insight into how education scholars influence thinking and the national discourse.

Normally, we expect to get thanked when giving a few bucks to a good cause. When it comes to K-12 schooling, though, folks giving away millions have been slammed for their trouble.

Today, RHSU unveils the 2012 Edu-Scholar Public Presence rankings. The metrics, as explained yesterday, are designed to recognize those university-based academics who are contributing most substantially to public debates about schools and schooling.

Accountability and school choice are not solutions, but they are useful tools.