Quotes of the Day

Shaking Schools Up in an Already Tumultuous Year
With budget cuts looming, and with more states considering radical changes to teacher tenure and other important policies, 2011 looks to be a big year for education, for better or for worse. Here are 11 reformers poised to shake things up even more in these tumultuous times. These activists are political and apolitical, working to change schools systems from within and without, and can be found in the for-profit, nonprofit and governmental sectors. Some are big names in the education world, others are more behind-the-scenes players. But what they all have in common is the potential to change how Americans think about education and how kids experience school in 2011 — and beyond.

Michael Bennet: The Senator
If the federal No Child Left Behind law is modified this year, or if anything else significant happens in Washington on education policy, this Colorado Democrat will be at the center of it. Bennet, who was Denver's superintendent of schools before being appointed to fill a vacant Senate seat in 2009, beat the odds in November and won a full term. He's tight with the President and has credibility with moderates in both parties. For these reasons, he'll be a powerful force when the debate about teacher effectiveness and school accountability heats up in Congress.

Steven Brill: The Writer
Insiders credit Brill's devastating 2009 New Yorker article about New York City's so-called rubber rooms with the district's decision to stop making teachers accused of misconduct sit in empty rooms, twiddling their thumbs for eight hours a day, during the months and often years it takes for their cases to work their way through a byzantine system of hearings. Now the veteran investigative journalist is working on a book about how education reformers have moved from the margins to the mainstream over the past two decades. Expect the book, which will be out late this year, to change the way Americans think about school reform and to showcase other rubber room-esque practices that make no sense and waste a lot of money.

• Andrew J. Rotherham