Civil Rights Groups, New-Style Funders, and Lucas

Education groups play an important role, usually behind the scenes, in shapring policy initiatives, proxying for political views, and communicating what's working and what isn't to the public. There's an interesting collection of stories over the last few weeks about what's going on inside education groups, be they advocacy-oriented, or funders, or relatively new on the scene:

Civil Rights Groups Split Over NCLB EdWeek
The New Philanthropists Education Next
Young Students New Focus of Big Donors NYT
Taking a Light Saber to Tired Old Teaching NYT