District superintendents around the country - who will be the first port of call for the education stimulus funds - seem to want more than what is already a pretty substantial influx of money.

They have their eyes set on the Education Secretary’s discretionary fund (his “Race to the Top Fund”), money that is supposed to be about innovation.

A D.C.-area superintendent is quoted in the Washington Post today as saying he might ask for money to boost AP placement among Latino kids. That of course, is a good idea, but one that doesn’t need money - it needs great educators pushing kids to succeed.

We’ll be watching for what qualifies as innovation, but for now, we’d humbly suggest a quick read of at least five big ideas that could transform education - ones that might be worthy of some of Duncan’s prize funds…

Mandate for Change - a bold agenda for the incoming government

Oh my, dear eduwonkette! We are so delighted by your coverage of the most important issues of the day. Alas, you broke the first cardinal rule of wonk-dom — KNOW THY FACTS. We wonks and wonkettes must simply stick together, you know.

The extraordinary work of dozens of prize-winning researchers that signed the famous New York Times ad (including Nobel Laureates) spelled out the problem with bad journalism clearly. The New York Times had used an analysis of government data by a known opponent of charter schools to claim that charter schools were lagging other schools. It was akin to Philip Morris saying that tobacco is safe!

Besides the source, my dear, there is the sticky little issue of what the data really said. In this case, it was sample data of students in 4th grade compared across communities and states! In the case of the Washington Post’s journalism this week, reporters — not unions — analyzed the results of test scores from ONE community, and amidst those test scores are data for both (EVERY) conventional and charter public school, not just a sample, allowing for apples to apples comparisons.

If you are saying you don’t believe the Post, that’s okay. Many others have felt that way for years. However, if you are saying we are biased or have a double standard, you are simply wrong, lovely little wonkette. We respectfully beg to differ.

In the coming days, in between other important elf duties, we will show you more. For now, we bid you a fond farewell and a wish that in addition to world peace, we all embrace the notion of digging deeper than just what seems to meet the eye.