On February 1, thirty-nine states, 15,000 teachers, and 1.7 million students will participate in the first-ever national Digital Learning Day, a national awareness campaign spearheaded by the Alliance for Excellent Education showcasing how technology can take learning in the United States to a much higher level and provide all students with experiences that allow them to graduate from high school prepared for college and a career.

Today, the Alliance for Excellent Education announced that thirty-nine states, 10,000 teachers, and 1.5 million students have signed up in support of the first-ever national Digital Learning Day on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. Digital Learning Day is a national awareness campaign designed to celebrate innovative teachers and highlight instructional practices that strengthen teaching and personalize learning for all students.

Nationally, millions of students in grades 7–12 are at risk of dropping out of high school because of low literacy skills, poor attendance, and class failure. The absence of a college- and career-ready education for these students is a civil rights and social justice issue that the federal government cannot ignore. Unfortunately, many of these students come from groups that are underserved and underrepresented, therefore failing to ensure that they receive a high quality education  will continue a cycle of poverty and disenfranchisement that the education system itself is intended to disrupt. This fact sheet provides information and policy issues for high school students of color and Native students in the United States, a group that makes up a significant portion of high school dropouts each year.

Today, the Alliance for Excellent Education announced that two thirds of all states have signed up as partners in support of the first-ever national Digital Learning Day, which will take place on February 1, 2012. Digital Learning Day is a national awareness campaign designed to celebrate innovative teachers and highlight instructional practices that strengthen teaching and personalize learning for all students.

In November 2011, eleven states submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for waivers from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Although the waiver process presents an opportunity to strengthen college and career readiness among the nation’s high school students, this analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds that many state applications could have the unintended consequence of weakening high school graduation rate accountability. High school graduation rates account for 14 percent to 30 percent of state accountability indexes. With graduation rates counting for such a small portion of the overall accountability indexes, schools could have an incentive to push out low-achieving students in order to increase overall scores on achievement tests and other measures of college and career readiness.

On Friday, January 6, U.S. House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) released two draft pieces of legislation on accountability and teacher effectiveness as part of the committee's work to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. In response, Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, made the following statement.

Several states' applications for waivers from requirements of the current No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act could weaken accountability for high school graduation rates if approved by the U.S. Department of Education, according to a new policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The brief, "Waiving Away High School Graduation Rate Accountability?," includes an analysis of eleven state applications submitted by Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

Digital learning can connect middle and high school students with better teaching and learning experiences while also addressing three major challenges facing the nation's education system-access to good teaching, tight budgets, and boosting student achievement-according to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education.

This report outlines how digital learning can connect middle and high school students with better teaching and learning experiences while also addressing three major challenges facing the nation’s education system—access to good teaching, tight budgets, and boosting student achievement. But simply slapping a netbook on top of a textbook will not lead to improvements. Effective educational technology strategies must link the “Three Ts”—teaching, technology, and use of time—with overall whole-school reform strategies and proven pedagogical practices to accelerate the pace of improvement and ensure that all students benefit from the opportunity that digital learning offers.