Michelle Rhee
(Iris Harris—U.S. Department of Commerce)
Two stories once again highlight how the supposedly data-driven corporate-style education reform is actually driven by ideology, with no data too shoddy and suspect to be held up against teachers or as a victory for "reform," and no amount of questionable data enough to sink a champion of "reform" like Michelle Rhee.

The New York Times' Michael Winerip asks why, with the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Education "investigating whether Washington school officials cheated to raise test scores during Ms. Rhee’s tenure," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would think it appropriate to join a panel also featuring Rhee to discuss, of all things, "the use of education data."

Mr. Duncan doesn’t think [there's a problem], according to his spokesman, Justin Hamilton. “It’s irresponsible for a New York Times columnist to presume guilt before we have all the facts,” Mr. Hamilton wrote in an e-mail. “Our inspector general is