Why Another Ed Blog?

It's simple. The blog name suggests it. By circumstance I live in two quite different worlds. One, Boulder, Colorado, the "Smartest City in the U.S."--well, OK, who knows really, when CNN Money says one thing and the Daily Beast says another, and it matters little because what Boulder, Colorado, is really known for is Left politics...way Left. And two, Scottsdale, Arizona--not the smartest perhaps, but smart enough, and really really Right in its politics, so Right that in the 2008 election, 4 out of 80 of my neighbors voted for Obama.

I'm interested mainly in education policy. Living six months in each world affords me a unique perspective from which to view K-12 education, which is the sector I'm primarily interested in. For half the year, I get to see education the way the Liberals do it; and for the other half, I see how it is handled by the Conservatives. If, as the qualitative researchers maintain, contrasts help reveal some underlying dynamics, then I'll have to be blind not to see some important things going on with the nation's schools.

Gene V Glass
University of Colorado Boulder
Arizona State University