Site You Should Know About: Alliance for Excellent Education

The Alliance for Excellent Education is this awesome site that has all this information about what is going on currently in the world of education. For instance, want to know where the US stacks up against other countries for education? The PISA 2009 results are right on their website, right now. Or go check out the actual stats here.

Want to know more about College Access? Visit here. They have issues briefs, facts sheets, reports, press releases, and more! Everything you could want to know about what's going on in American ed.

Need to know about the achievement gap? Try here.

They also have information on many other important topics, so go visit NOW!

Wonderful Website: Ed Data Express

I believe that no matter what level you work at, it is important for all educators to be aware of what is going on in education policy and in their state specifically. To aid in this process, the US Government has recently released a new website entitled "Ed Data Express." This website is here to help all educators learn about the education statistics regarding their state. You can look at a snapshot of your state, create your own state tables, explore particular data elements and more. Check it out!

What Money is Being Spent on Our Kids?

Not something we learn about much in grad school, but have you ever wondered how much money the federal government and states are actually spending on our nation's children?

I recently had the opportunity to attend First Focus' Children's Budget Summit, and I learned some pretty deplorable statistics. Overall, less than 10% of our federal budget is spent on all children's programs.

To learn more about federal spending on children, check out the following resources:

1. Kids Share 2010: http://www.firstfocus.net/library/reports/kids-share-2010-report-on-federal-expenditures-on-children-through-2009
Kids Share 2010 is the fourth annual examination of the federal spending trends and tax policies that support and affect children and families. This years report finds that less than one tenth of the federal budget was spent on children in 2009.

2. Children's Budget Summit: http://www.firstfocus.net/childrens-budget-summit
Download the powerpoint presentations, download the booklet on the 180 policies, and learn how depressing the whole subject really is.