Amid the euphoria of record levels for the Dow or the S&P 500, Wall Street and Main Street.That's certainly true, but my visit to Chaparral High School reminded me that for some kids, even Main Street looks like a dream destination -- and they don't have the bus fare to get there.

What I've found over the years is that problems -- and solutions -- often look quite different on the periphery. For those of us at the "center" of society, the problems on the periphery can appear smaller because we are physically or psychologically removed from the fallout.

School redesign is a hot topic in education circles, and it's easy to see why. In so many ways, the basic underpinnings of our schools haven't changed radically since the Industrial Revolution.

Austin, Texas, likes to cultivate a reputation for weirdness, but there are some pretty wonderful things going on in the Austin Independent School District. Throughout the city, students are learning about persistence, empathy and honesty right alongside math, science and history.

To move towards high impact, cost-effective student support strategies, we need to adopt evidence-based, targeted student supports and deploy nonprofit organizations to leverage community volunteers and national service to address this challenge.

In From the Rear View Mirror: Reflecting on Connecting the Dots, we are treated to the deeply personal, sometimes painful and often humorous life of Bill Milliken.

There's a new high-tech start-up in Austin, Texas, called that has a different twist: empowering 'micro-donations' over the Internet while also tying in those donations to a fan's sports, entertainment or even routine (think a Starbucks in the morning) passions.

More than 4 million people between ages 16 to 24 were either unemployed or had dropped out of school in 2000, according to Philanthropedia.org. Yet, t...