According to a new report issued by America's Promise Alliance, the Everyone Graduates Center, the Alliance for Excellent Education, and Civic Enterprises, the United States is making gradual progress in improving high school graduation rates. While the nation's overall graduation rate rose by 3.5% to 75% from 2002 to 2009, about 1 out of 4 students still fails to graduate in four years. That number increases to 40% when analyzing minority graduation rates, signaling that more work needs to be done to prepare our students in a global economy.   Continue Reading...

Over the years, AAE membership surveys have covered a wide range of education policy issues and have often been critical in dispelling union-led perceptions that teachers are unsupportive of commonsense reforms. According to a new survey released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in collaboration with Scholastic Education, the trend is in fact growing and teachers are embracing key education reforms like never before.   Continue Reading...

Yesterday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee in reference to the administration's Fiscal Year 2013 budget and policy priorities for the Department of Education. The hearing was a strong indicator of areas of compromise and disagreement between the administration and congressional leadership.   Continue Reading...

Since AAE's founding in 1994, our association and state partners have been met with harsh opposition from both the NEA and its state affiliates. False claims about AAE's motives and benefits, coupled with districts shutting out non-union groups in favor of the union have been commonplace. AAE members have even been harassed and blackballed for supporting the non-union option. In states such as Colorado, Idaho, Kansas and Utah, non-union groups have been on the front lines of seeking equal treatment as their union counterparts.   Continue Reading...

While charter schools have been touted as a major component of the education reform movement, the battle to allow charters to exist still rages on in states across the country. In a victory for the charter school movement in Georgia, a constitutional amendment allowing the state to authorize new charter schools passed the state Senate this week in a bipartisan agreement that is expected to set a national precedent for the overall charter community.   Continue Reading...

Secretary Duncan Advocates for Tech Advances At the South by Southwest Education (SXSWedu) conference in Austin, Texas, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the crowd in a widely-attended speech that implementing new technologies and outfitting schools with new tech-friendly equipment will be the key to future success in our country.  "The future of American education undoubtedly includes a laptop on every desk and universal internet access in every home," Secretary Duncan said, "But a great teacher at the front of the classroom will still make the biggest difference in the lives of our students."   Continue Reading...

Everyone knows that our education system is inherently linked to our success as a nation. If our students are not prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, the United States will be incapable of competing in a global economy. A new report issued by the Council of Foreign Relations task force, states this and much more, asserting that not only is our economy at risk, but that the nation's security could be threatened if our schools don't improve.   Continue Reading...

For generations, the public school teacher retirement system has functioned as a back-ended plan where teachers receive a modest salary in exchange for lifetime benefits and a guaranteed pension. However, the shifting demographics of the profession coupled with financial realities has led many states to question the sustainability of the current model.   Continue Reading...

In 2008, Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School, was a successful finance executive when he began posting math tutoring videos on YouTube for his family and friends. In the years that followed, Khan's idea has grown into the Khan Academy, a nonprofit organization that has built a free, online database of thousands of digital lessons and lectures on topics ranging from microbiology to economics.   Continue Reading...

Parental engagement has been a hot topic for years and can vary widely depending on area of the country or school setting. From a perceived lack of parent involvement in inner-city school systems, to the "helicopter" parents of high-performing students, teachers have for years cited level of parental involvement as a contributing factor to student learning.   Continue Reading...

In light of the difficult economy and the debate over various education reforms, teachers across the country are no doubt in a state of flux. With half of the current workforce set to retire in the next ten years, and an ongoing discussion about attracting new teachers to the profession, current classroom teachers are clearly feeling the heat. According to the 28th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, educator job satisfaction is at the lowest it's been in more than two decades.   Continue Reading...

Department of Education Unveils RESPECT Initiative Included in the Obama administration's 2013 proposed budget is a new $5 billion competitive program to challenge states and school districts to work with various stakeholders in an effort to comprehensively reform the field of teaching. Entitled RESPECT, the proposal seeks to touch on every aspect of teaching from training and tenure to compensation and career opportunities.

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Chicago has been an education reform epicenter ever since newly elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel took the reins in January 2011. Everything from length of school day to teacher pay have been hot topics of late; however, last week the issue hit critical mass as teacher union leaders called on educators throughout the city to ditch their classes in favor of blocking Mayer Emanuel's reforms.   Continue Reading...

President Obama Releases 2013 Budget

Yesterday at a community college in northern Virginia, President Obama unveiled his new budget for fiscal year 2013. The $3.8 trillion budget earmarks $69.8 billion in mere discretionary spending for the U.S. Department of Education in the next fiscal year, an increase of $1.7 billion, or 2.5 percent, over the current budget year.

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A recent report by the union watchdog group, the Education Intelligence Agency, sheds new light on the financial disclosures of the American Federation of Teachers in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The analysis reveals that the AFT spent an astonishing $7.8 million of member dues on a wide array of left-leaning advocacy groups, charities, and big labor organizations–more than triple the amount spent last year.   Continue Reading...

2012 marked the 10 year anniversary of the heavily debated and sometimes controversial No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, the nation's flagship federal K-12 legislation. What began as a bi-partisan effort to track schools and measure accountability, has grown into a headache for many states who are struggling to comply with various regulations.   Continue Reading...

In the wake of last year's labor battles in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio, 2012 is shaping up to mark a new era in curtailed teacher union power. While it might seem difficult to believe that the National Education Association and its state affiliates, at their peak a $1.5 billion annual powerhouse, could be suffering from money troubles, new evidence suggests deep trouble for the NEA and state affiliates.   Continue Reading...

For years, the path to the classroom was exclusively paved through a program of study in a university-based teacher preparation program and ultimately a teaching license. However, in recent years, various "alternative certification" programs have been developed in order to allow degreed professionals practical avenues to become teachers. With participation in these programs skyrocketing in the last five years, many have speculated that these teachers will leave a lasting impact not only on students, but on the teaching preparation process nationwide.   Continue Reading...

Today, February 1, 2012, students, parents, teachers, state leaders and education advocates from across the country are celebrating the first ever Digital Learning Day! This day recognizes the power of digital learning to improve student achievement and transform education for the 21st century. As part of the festivities, governors, education chiefs, lawmakers and policymakers across the nation are marking this day by making a commitment to fostering digital learning for students.   Continue Reading...

Class size has for years been an important subject for teachers. Many claim that with fewer students, teachers are able to provide individualized attention and student learning increases as a result. While a number of organizations have championed this argument for generations, a new study released by the National Bureau of Economics debunks the age old myths that polices like lower class size and per pupil spending are the determining factors in receiving a quality education.   Continue Reading...