Businesses have a vested interest in their communities ... The Alliance for Excellent Education’s Bob Wise points out, “Ask any retailer whether their future depends on consumers earning a high school dropout’s $9 per hour or the $20 per hour of postsecondary achievement.”

In schools today, Black students get suspended at a rate that is more than triple the rate of their White classmates ... According to a study by The Alliance for Excellent Education increasing male graduation rates by 5 percent can save taxpayers nearly $5 billion annually in societal and economic costs associated with crime.

John D. Rockefeller IV, scion of a wealthy New York family and known simply as “Jay,” changed political parties and home states in the turbulent 1960s to launch a successful career in West Virginia politics, one he is ending when his fifth term in the U.S. Senate is up two years from now ... Bob Wise, a one-term governor, now serving as president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, said Rockefeller has earned the right to devote more time to his family after all he achieved to advance others.

More than 39 million Americans 16 and older lack a high school diploma, according to the 2010 U.S. Census ... Daily, about 7,000 students drop out of high school – about 1.3 million per year, according to advocacy group Alliance for Excellent Education.

Education policy wasn't a significant issue in the 2012 presidential election, but it needs to be one in 2013 ... s stated by the Alliance for Excellent Education, a national policy group working on high school reform, "failure to close the gaps in educational achievement and graduation rates, especially given the nation's changing demographics, will have dire consequences for the American economy."

The education mantra of data-driven decision-making has morphed into "accountability for results."  ... The project includes participation from the Council of Chief State School Officers, Alliance for Excellent Education, and Carnegie Corp. of New York. A first release is expected in December.

Quotations are devices reporters use to inject credibility into their stories ... “The best economic stimulus plan for this country is a diploma.” Bob Wise, former West Virginia governor and president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, told a group of more than 400 educators attending the Mooresville Graded School District’s Summer Connection conference.

The Rochester School Board’s Instruction Committee met this week to discuss the future of competency-based grading in the district and deliberated whether a “failing” grade should be eliminated from schools altogether ... The state currently only requires high schools to incorporate the competency-based learning system into their district while Rochester was recently applauded by the Alliance for Excellent Education for its ambition in applying the competency system.

If we used the same metrics in education that we do in business, the U.S. system would get an F when it comes to ROI. At $1.3 trillion a year, America is spending more on education than any country in the world — yet we rank 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading ... According to an estimate from the Alliance for Excellent Education, if that trend continues, over the next decade we will lose 13 million students at a lifetime cost in lost wages of more than $3 trillion.

Today’s digital-age students are expected not only to communicate effectively, think critically, and collaborate with one another, but also to analyze information while meeting rigorous state and national benchmarks ... “Learner-centered education dramatically impacts the work of educators and educational systems, and schools must empower teachers to apply thier pedagogical knowledge, instructional skills, and digital tools and resources to mee the needs of individual students," Wolf wrote in a recent Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE) report.