www.edweek.org  Education Week has wonderful bloggers on their website, many of whom appear in Ed Week columns and write elsewhere as well.  These include Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meyer (founder of Coalition of Essential Schools with Ted Sizer) who write Bridging Differences,  Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute, writing Rich Hess Straight Up, which ironically leans to the right, Stephen Sawchuk, who writes Teacher Beat, appears to me to be straight up commentary.  Try reaching the blog site:  http://blogs.edweek.org  There are several topics on which folks are blogging listed at the top of this page.  You might not get to read the blogs without a subscription to EdWeek, which is $74/year for online access and $89 for print and online.  You’ll also see special offers for EdWeek regularly once you are being tracked electronically—I have an offer for the $89 package @$59 on my desk right now.  The subscription comes with additional national reports in both cases—such as the annual  Quality Counts, the most comprehensive comparison of performance state by state.  Ed Week is a good resource to stay informed about national issues, but it is not aimed directly at the classroom—it’s Federal policy and state educational news in a comprehensive journalistic style.  Weekly commentary from expert guest contributors, however, often relates to teaching and learning directly.

A commentary from the December 15, 2010 issue may be of interest:  “Value-Added: It’s Not Perfect, But It Makes Sense”, by multiple authors, despite the bias in favor of VA.  A subscription or request from a librarian will be necessary.  Look for it in the archives.

www.washingtonpost.com  The Washington Post has regular columns on education, with guest commentary as well as regulars.  Valerie Strauss is one of their regulars.  This paper is considered liberal by many, but that would be when compared to the Wall Street Journal or anything from Rupert Murdock.