Department of Corrections

I put up a post yesterday saying that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has signed up several people for senior slots in the department. I took the post down after I learned more details about their status. Here's where thing stand:

Marshall (Mike) Smith, head of the education program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation until last November and acting deputy secretary during the Clinton era (and, until recently, an Education Sector board member), has signed on for a year or two as a senior counselor to Duncan and is currently playing a key role on the education portion of the stimulus package.

Jon Schnur, co-founder and CEO of the social entrepreneur enterprise New Leaders for New Schools and a former aide to Vice President Al Gore, is on leave from New Leaders and is serving as a senior consultant to Secretary Duncan.

And Bob Shireman, founder of The Institute for College Access & Success and a long-time Washington higher education wonk, is on leave from his organization to advise Secretary Duncan on higher education.

Stay tuned. The stimulus package and the Obama budget suggest the Education Department is going to have a very high profile.