Rising college tuition has been a “crisis” for much of the 15 years I have covered higher education as a journalist. But that crisis has now reached a fever pitch with President Obama dedicating parts of the last two State of the Union addresses to the issue, pricey private colleges cutting their tuition or putting in place other creative pricing models, and nearly every institution talking aboContinue Reading »

In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night President Obama laid out a wide array of programs and initiatives including many in education. Most of them laudable and important, but I must confess one really got my attention. Roughly mid-way through his speech he proposed a Fix-it-First program, “to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs.” To get this done he is Continue Reading »

There’s already a lot of very smart State of the Union takes from an education perspective floating around today (see here, here, and here) so rather than a write-up touching on everything, I want to focus on one particular area–the talk about the need for more research, good teachers, and additional education–the latter especially in the STEM fields.

The last two issueContinue Reading »

Tonight at 9 P.M. EST, President Barack Obama will deliver his second State of the Union.  Education policy will likely be an important topic of the speech, considering that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act continues to await renewal and that global competitiveness has become a serious concern for the nation.  This edition of Quick Hits is dedicated to the news, expectations, and goodContinue Reading »

Could K-12 education be one bright spot in an austere budget? (Politics K-12)

Duncan says the budget will force “hard choices” in education. So what does that mean? (Politico)

Is tonight’s SOTU a bold new initiative? Or a Race to the Middle? (Flypaper)

What do you know about previous State of the Union speeches? Quiz yourself. (CNN Politics) Tweet Continue Reading »

Am I the only person who found it odd and somewhat unseemly that the President of the United States used a portion of his State of the Union Address to essentially advertise a line of baby toys? Does this mean they qualify as being based in scientifically-based research? (Cuz I’m skeptical: more TK) Tweet Continue Reading »