The U.S. Department of Education released progress report information for the 12 states that received Race to the Top funding in 2010.  The specific summaries highlight the reform efforts and initiatives each state is implementing along with challenges along the way.  Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee developed aggressive plans for statewide reform and secured funding for the work.

Educators and policymakers realize that all of America’s students need a high-quality education to prepare them for college and careers. 2012 promises to be another busy year in  transformational strategies in education. In order to ensure a world-class education, leaders will likely address these top five issues facing states and territories (“the states”) this year.

A newly released report by a Stanford University researcher confirms what many have suspected; the educational achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families is growing.

Although childhood poverty rates declined throughout most of the 1990s, they have been on the rise again.  Between 2008 and 2009, child poverty jumped 10 percent – the single biggest year-over-year jump in the data’s history.  And from 2000-2009, rates increased in 38 states.  That means 1 in 5 children now live in poverty.

The number of poor children has been on the rise for the past 10 years, although those increases vary across state and racial and ethnic lines.  Higher childhood poverty rates mean bigger costs to states, including future health and criminal justice expenses.  

States aren’t waiting for reauthorization of the federal education law to find ways to boost academic achievement and student success. That education reform effort has already started and will continue in 2011. Despite delays at the national level, states are implementing a variety of strategies and initiatives to ensure students are prepared for the future. State legislatures will play an important role in preparing students for college and a career. States will tackle policy positions to implement common academic standards, close continuing achievement gaps, adequately prepare future teachers and find dollars to fund public education.

When Barbara Cooper was a teacher, she made sure she knew the parents of her students.  That’s especially important in urban schools, she said, where children have to worry about crime in their neighborhood as much as learning their ABCs. Cooper should know: She taught school for 42 years—35 of them in Memphis City Schools—before she was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives 14 years ago. But her interest in schools, especially urban schools, remains high.

Although some of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs involve science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) skills, the number of women and minorities in these fields is lagging significantly behind white males.