[SumProVita]

Teacher formation and curriculum need to be addressed FIRST. Then STANDARDS, which students MUST achieve, should be second.

The most important prerequisite of any of this: Remove all affiliation with the NEA.

[Godwin1]

Well, maybe that is a good idea. But Obama is NOT the national school board President. Education is still a local responsibility and these things should be decided on the ground. The steady expansion of federal influence on education—Bush's No Child Left Behind is an example— opens the way to a Euro-style Unitary system of education. Obama has a war to win , an economy to revive, a health care system to destroy. He should stay the hell away from the public schools that neither he nor his children ever attended.