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For all the contention brought about by the O.W.S. protests, most observers and commenters agree that the movement's one success has been to shift the national conversation-inasmuch as there is one-to words like "poverty" and "inequality." Still, since the early occupations, calls for the protesters to give specifics to underline their shouting have resounded. And in the months of occupation, the financial and political structures that created and support such drastic inequality have been widely reported on and scrutinized. One, though-the privatization of public education, in the name of reform-has received less attention.

Jindal vetoed House Bill 1106 by Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, which would have established a tax rebate for those who give to low-performing schools. The percentage of the donation that could be claimed as a rebate would have depended on the school's letter grade, with donations to failing schools eligible for a rebate of 75 percent. The program would have been capped at $10 million.

"But based on an analysis conducted by Matt DiCarlo  of the Albert Shanker Institute, the grading system devised for Indiana had more to do with the characteristics of the students served by schools than it had to do with giving parents and policymakers real insight into the effectiveness of the schools."

He stood alone for months, but now state Sen. Rollie Heath has the backing of two major education groups behind his $3 billion tax-increase proposal. Neither of the groups, however, is the Colorado Education Association, a teachers union that is the most powerful education group in the state and an organization with a well-funded political-action committee.

Connecting teachers to their students-and vice versa-remains one of the thorniest problems for state longitudinal data systems, both technically and politically, and more states and districts seem to be trying to get teachers invested in the process.

Governor Christie removed full funding of the state aide formula for the 2011-2012 school year.  A report released yesterday by the Education Law Center states that Egg Harbor Township schools are now underfunded by over $17,000,000 as a result of Christie's budget vetoes.

Public education has never been so divided, between those like Dr. Tisch, Commissioner John B. King Jr. and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who support the Obama administration's signature Race to the Top initiative and its emphasis on standardized tests and charter schools; and dissenters on the board, who call it a Race to the Bottom and put their faith in teachers as well as traditional public schools. The Race to the Bottom folks warn that the supposedly free fellows come at a stiff political price.

TERRY MOE MADE his name in the early 1990s when, with John Chubb, he co-authored a much-discussed book arguing for a system of publicly-funded private school vouchers. The central thesis of Politics, Markets and America's Schools was that "direct democratic control" of public education was "incompatible with effective schooling." Chubb and Moe argued that private school vouchers would create efficient markets in education, and that "choice is a panacea."

Education reform at primary, secondary, and university levels in Chile is a longstanding social and political issue that has now forced President Sebastián Piñera to reassess the country's antiquated and class-ridden education system to meet the expectations of students. In a collective effort aimed at widespread reform, protesters have demanded greater transparency and state control, and above all, have insisted upon quality education without high university tuition costs. While the Piñera administration's attempts to pacify protesters have led to further social unrest, the nation and its students await an acceptable agreement to be reached.

With ever-declining budgets, education administrators across the nation have been struggling for years with an increasing teacher turnover rate. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that race may play a role in teacher turnover. Lael Keiser, an associate professor at the Truman School of Public Affairs and an associate professor in the department of political science in the College of Arts and Science, and Jason Grissom, who is now an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, found that turnover rates are lower among teachers who are of the same race as their school principals.

Few would claim that the tone of civic discourse in America is amiable.  Bitterness and invective are now hard-wired into our political life, with conservatives castigating Obama as an irresponsible, dangerous Marxist and liberals returning fire with the "craziness" of Michelle Bachmann (whose husband, they whisper, is a closeted homosexual). The spirit of rancor extends even to wonky issues like school reform.

For a generation, there has been loose bipartisan agreement in Washington that the federal government has a necessary role to play in the nation's 13,600 school districts, primarily by using money to compel states to raise standards. But the field of Republican presidential candidates has promised to unwind this legacy, arguing that education responsibilities should devolve to states and local districts, which will do a better job than Washington.

The union representing nearly 700 public school employees who were laid off at the end of the school day on Friday held a last-minute lunchtime rally on the steps of City Hall, calling the layoffs a political vendetta and threatening possible legal action. But for all of the chanting and sign waving by District Council 37, the layoffs went through as planned. At the end of the day, Sungmi Kang, 47, a school aide at Stuyvesant High School, was out of work, along with 638 other school aides, parent coordinators, community associates, and other school support staff. They are the city's lowest paid employees and the latest victims of budget cuts.

Political wrestling matches over the right to shape school policy play out in state capitals just about every year. But in 2011, one group of policymakers in particular-state boards of education-have faced unusually intense challenges to their authority. Legislation has emerged in at least 14 states this year to change or strip the power afforded to those boards, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education, which is fighting many of those efforts.

Legislation creating Maine's first charter schools is headed to Gov. Paul LePage's desk for his signature. After years of failed attempts, advocates for charter schools finally succeeded in receiving legislative support for allowing public schools that must meet state and federal academic standards but are given more flexibility in curriculum, budgeting and other areas.

Florida has long been a testing ground for private-school voucher programs and-no surprise-has also hosted a number of high-profile political and legal battles over the separation of church and state.

The accountability system at the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act would be completely reinvented under a draft reauthorization proposal released today by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

"Public education in the United States is in a state of crisis. We know this because we have heard the warning from government officials of both political parties over the past 30 years. We have also heard that if we don't fix this crisis, the United States and the "American way of life" is in jeopardy of losing its global economic competitiveness and superiority."

Declaring that "government has failed to do what government should be doing," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo moved on Monday to assert his influence over New York State's education policy, appointing a former Citigroup chairman to lead a new commission charged with improving student performance.

The historic stability of higher education is remarkable. As former University of California President Clark Kerr once observed, the 85 human institutions that have survived in recognizable form for the last 500 years include the Catholic Church, a few Swiss cantons, the Parliaments of Iceland and the Isle of Man, and about 70 universities. The occasional small liberal arts school goes under, and many public universities are suffering budget cuts, but as a rule, colleges are forever. I think that rule is going to change, and soon. Many factors explain the endurance of higher education institutions-the ascent of the knowledge economy, their crucial role in upper-middle class acculturation, our peculiar national enthusiasm for college sports-but the single greatest asset held by traditional colleges and universities is their exclusive franchise for the production and sale of higher education credentials. In the last few months, however, that monopoly has begun to crumble. New organizations are being created to offer new kinds of degrees, in a manner and at a price that could completely disrupt the enduring college business model. The question is: Which colleges and universities will be the G.E. of the twenty-first century, and which will be as forgotten as U.S. Leather?