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Gerard Robinson (the Secretary of Education in Virginia) joined Chiefs for Change... along with a number of other governors from the south. Oh, yes and Chris Christy.

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Parents' job loss prompts students to worry that they may need to leave a key support systems--their school.

Interesting comparison between schools in US and Singapore. Singapore built a well-functioning society because top officials "applied ... lessons [learned at the Kennedy School at Harvard] vigorously."

Mounting evidence shows that business-type/market-based reforms are not delivering anticipated results.

Because leading schools out of chronic failure is harder than managing a successful school - often requiring more creative problem-solving abilities and stronger leadership, among other skills - the supply of principals capable of doing the work is tiny.

I loved the comment that people don't grow on trees - I guess that great leadership programs will need to start growing immediately!

This is really about the politics of higher ed., but it's an issue that's near and dear to me and my colleagues in the School of Education.

Many of us said that we found writing in the blog difficult because it took a lot of time to craft the "perfect" text. This article explains how many are shifting from blogging to social networks as a more convenient way to quickly share updates.

Along the lines of Dr Becker's latest video regarding power and decision makers, the acceptance of ROTC programs by higher ed can lead to increased federal funding. With the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" some universities are claiming to be more open to the ROTC programs being housed at their campus.

Doritos High School....is that where you would like to attend, where your high school memories will be formed? The push and allowance of corporate sponsorship of schools are a response to impending and repeated education budget cuts.

In New York, students are deemed "college ready" when they score at or above a certain level on the high school Regents Exams (their version of the SOL's). I took a quick look at the high school biology exam from 2001(I admit-not a scientific analysis at all), and apparently fact memorization is what you need to be successful in college.

$5000 for no cursing initiative...really? We can't even get new textbooks!

Subject page of NY Times with a good resource list that includes working links.

This article describes the disconnect between federal education policy focused on math and reading (and rote memorization in other subjects) and Obama's calls for greater emphasis on science education.

Texas budget cuts - very similar to Virginia - cut programs that ultimately harm our children and their education.

The last line is very sad..."Lose the future"...yet I feel this way here in VA as well!

I don't know if the New York Times regularly does this for certain topics, but this link has articles from various op-ed columnists about the testing/evaluating culture in our schools.

Krugman argues that technological innovations actually hurt certain types of middle-class white collar positions the most, not lower paying blue collar jobs like many assume. He doesn't provide numbers to back up his claims, but he just might not of had the space.