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The Baltimore Sun compares Baltimore's and Washington DC's school reforms, and it finds DC's wanting.

To be more precise: The Sun finds DC's Chancellor Rhee to be wanting. The paper sees little difference between the two districts' reform plans:

there's little doubt the personal leadership styles of the two CEOs have largely determined how reform efforts have been received. In public, at least, Mr. Alonso eschews drama. Ms. Rhee, by contrast, once appeared on the cover of a national news magazine wielding a broom to symbolize her intention of cleaning house.

Which city has a better shot at success down the road? The Sun votes for Baltimore:

We're betting on Baltimore getting there first, if for no other reason than that Mr. Alonso's style seems to mesh better with the players in a city that also seems to have fewer structural obstacles in the way of reform than comparable urban school systems. It's freer from political meddling, enjoys a more harmonious relationship with its unions and is outside the national spotlight that magnifies - and possibly distorts - everything a Washington school superintendent does.

As a rule, it's unwise to place bets of that kind. History is strewn with the corpses of would-be prophets.

Still, the Sun makes a good point about the national media. Journalists are drawn to conflict like flies to honey, and they often further inflame the passions of the combatants. Baltimore should be thankful for its relative obscurity.

But the national media do even more damage when they imply that Rhee is the last great hope for urban schools. (See, for example, the Washington Post editorial page, which referred to Chancellor Rhee as the "best, perhaps last, hope" for DC students.) This common bit of newspaperly drama is downright irresponsible. It breeds cynicism and despair. If Michelle Rhee can't do it, why then things must be hopeless!

It's a bad idea to pin all our hopes on one reformer or a handful of reform strategies. It's even worse to turn one lightning-rod superintendent into the sole standard-bearer for school reform.

Let's not forget that there are other people out there, like Baltimore's Andres Alonzo, Aldine's Wanda Bamberg or Atlanta's Beverly Hall, who can help light the way forward for urban schools.