Moving Chairs Around at USDE, Rolling Out the First Lady, Analyzing the 'New' SAT, and Looking Into High School Reform (National News)

Even though the Senate passed its version of the Perkins reauthorization on Thursday, there was not that much else going on in DC this week:

The new Education Secretary did what most of them do -- she reorganized everything to some important but difficult-to-ascertain end and little ultimate result: Spellings Sets New Structure for Ed. Dept. (EW), and Department of Ed Shake-Up (Eduwonk).

Down the street, the White House rolled out the First Lady's anti-delinquency initiative, whatever that is: Bush hands first lady reins for youth project (Washington Times), First Lady's Initiative Aimed At Providing Stability for Youths (WPost ), Mrs. Bush, Husband in Tow, Discusses Problems of Youth (NYT).

Of course, everyone had something to say about this weekend's "new" SAT test -- and some of it's interesting: Topic: Essays Are Useful. Discuss. (NYT), An altered rite of passage for US teens (CSM ), More students take both ACT, SAT (New York Times), Building a better SAT? Yale prof. thinks he's done it (SD Union-Tribune), New SAT undergoes major overhaul (U.S. News & World Report), and SAT requirement for 2-year schools under review (AJC).

Best of all, coverage and analysis of high school reform got a little more interesting: Is High School as Bad as All That? (Washington Post), Budget Panel Receives Spellings With Skepticism (EW), High schools are designed to fail (Baltimore Sun), Bill Gates is not the issue (ARN), Critics say Microsoft not doing its share (Seattle Times), and Summit Underscores Gates Foundation’s Emergence as Player (EW).

After weeks of vague generalities, there are even some specific programs discussed: Restructuring Model Shows Promise in K.C. (EW), The Early-College Experiment (Chronicle of Higher Education), 'You Can't Make Me Earn the Diploma' (Washington Post), and Smaller, Better (Baltimore Sun).