The Post reports:

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee fired 241 teachers Friday for poor classroom performance. The dismissals are the first under a rigorous new evaluation system launched this year.

As a Burkean lover of government by consensus who is nevertheless skeptical that interest-group democracy can deliver it, the national move toward teacher accountability warms the cockles of my cold heart. Because it is an area where the right straight-up engaged the left on both the empirical reality and the principles of a policy issue, and the left, after years of spirited resistance, has begun to yield real ground. While it would be silly to see a complete conservative victory in education policy — indeed, there is no monolithic “conservative” policy that could stand as the victor — it is a good start.