Australia's education revolution fell short of expectations. The idea of a revolution was the integrating theme of the Labor Government's policy in education over the past three years. However, the term was rarely used in the recent federal election campaign. The new prime minister, Julia Gillard, served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education under former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and led the effort to create the revolution. Surprisingly, after the election, Gillard did not even use the word education in the titles of the ministers she appointed. The word was inserted into those ministers' titles only a few minutes before they were sworn in and after a public and professional out cry. There are now three, possibly four, ministers who may set policies that might have an effect on education. There is a Minister for School Education, Early Childhood, and Youth (Peter Garrett), a Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs, and Workplace Relations (Chris Evans), a Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science, and Research (Kim Carr), and a Minister for Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy (Stephen Conroy). It is sobering to ponder the implications of this fragmented lineup. Consider the fields of technology and innovation. Delivery lies with Garrett, preservice teacher education lies with Evans, research in postgraduate programs lies with Carr, and broadband rollout to schools lies with Conroy. The situation is even more complex than it first appears because, according to the Australian constitution, the federal government has no role in education. The situation is similar to that in the United States. Power over education resides with the states; federal influence derives from the federal government's powers to make conditional grants to the states under a series of national partnership agreements. Digital Education Revolution One such agreement concerns the Digital Education Revolution (DER) signed in May 2009. The central purpose of DER was to ensure one computer for each secondary school student in grades 9 to 12, with a total estimated cost of AU $2.207 billion over six years. This cost estimate included fiber-to-the-premises broadband connections, preser-vice teacher education, and professional development for teachers. The federal government contributed about 70% of the costs, and the states contributed about 30% before the start of the agreement. By mid-2010, it became clear that the DER rollout was occurring at about half the pace needed to reach the target by December 2011. …