WAR, W.Va. — When school started this fall in this sparsely populated rural area at West Virginia's southern tip, 1 of 7 classrooms was without ...

A simple fact of business: You have to spend money to make money. And those who want to privatize education are willing to spend lots of money and effort to push their agenda. One of the main ways they are doing this is through ALEC.

Civic education has been the traditional means of teaching students about democracy. Students learn about the role of government in American society, what good citizenship means, which skills are needed to be good citizens, and how to promote toleration and respect for others.

The one thing this series of suits and finance formula rewrites has produced through the years is perpetual dissatisfaction in the education community. We have tinkered with, but never fundamentally altered, the way the Texas education system operates.

We can call the CCSS the Common Core State Benchmarks, Guidelines, Requirements, or Ensigns for all I care. But this does not eliminate the fundamental truth that the CCSS is a curriculum. And like many iterations of curriculum, it is sullied by the ideologies and personal ambitions of its architects.

The leader of any organization knows that part of his or her job is to look for better ways to do things and to stay current on trends in the field. We should expect no less from our school leaders.

An arbitrary number is not going to support student achievement and teacher practice; focus on a best practice is. Instead of focusing on quantity of assessments, let's focus on quality of assessment practices.

Anyone else would be embarrassed about the timing. But not Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Why should he be bothered by the awkward juxtaposition of his Texas ad campaign in Illinois launching just as a damning report on the state of his state is released by the Texas Legislative Study Group (TSG)?

I am all for meaningful change that will benefit our students, but I continue to scratch my head as I watch what is happening in the state I live in (NY) and the one where I work (NJ). I am still trying to figure out how SGP's will work.