Finding a Silver Lining

By Andy Plattner

Across most of the country these days, education leaders are badly frightened and deeply concerned. Many of them--and the reforms they are pursuing--are under concerted attack by opponents who are well organized, media savvy, persistent, and nationally connected.

This opposition, too often labeled simply the "religious right,'' has already succeeded in, at a minimum, disrupting reform efforts in Ohio and Virginia and Pennsylvania. It threatens to dismantle the four-year-old, sweeping education reform in Kentucky. And it may succeed in preventing such a system from becoming a reality in Alabama.

There are many more examples, lots of them at the district or school level--such as in Littleton, Colo.--that could be cited. The phones at the National Center on Education and the Economy have been ringing steadily for months...