The Education Policy Blog, a forum for education experts, is debating the way the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other grant makers are trying to improve the American school system.

Sherman Dorn, who says he works in education in Tampa, Fla., writes that foundations need to be looked at with a critical eye. He asks: what is their long-term plans for education? What is the role of advocacy within those plans? And, what do their failures mean?

He says Mr. Gates and the philanthropist Eli Broad have largely been unsuccessful with their $60-million Ed in ’08 campaign, which works to raise education issues during the presidential campaign.

But that the donors have a “serious persistence” and while some strategies may fail, they have the resources to continue to search for what works.

Read The Chronicle’s article about Ed in ’08. And see more about the election campaign and nonprofit groups on a special section of our Web site

What do you think about foundations and education? Has Ed in ’08 been effective or not? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.