Duncan and the grants, with a note for Worcester

If you're interested in where ed policy is headed nationally in the US, you may wish to give a quick read to the transcript of this conference call that Secretary Duncan had with what the USED refers to as "education funders" (call me a traditionalist; I think of those as "taxpayers"), by which they mean major grant funders.
For example, Duncan has this to say about the Denver conference:

So what we’re actually going to do is do a case study and all of these they’ll be presenting throughout the weekend those that we think have done a great job. And all of this stuff we’re going to be absolutely open and transparent, will be on our Web site.
We’re going to do a case study on each of these districts and not just on the existing contract but on the journey to get to that point.

And--heads up, Worcester! This means you!--this:

And we are also going to track progress of all of the attending districts

aka: the federal government is going to be WATCHING how your union and administration do at "progressing" (by their lights) on your negotiations.