"1. Arne Duncan is taking advantage of an unbelievably large budget and pushing a tough reform agenda targeting low-income kids and struggling schools. While he'll have his hands full with reauthorization, he has assembled a top notch team.
2. Joanne Weiss leads the mother of all grant program--Race to the Top--with the same skill and diplomacy she exhibited at New Schools.
3. Jim Shelton and sidekick Shivam Shah run grant programs of historically gigantic proportions: i3, Promise Neighborhoods.
4. Gene Wilhoit is pushing state chiefs, supporting common standards, and asking us all to think hard about the future of learning."