In State of the Union Address, Obama Stresses Education, Calls for Mandatory School Attendance Until Age 18

During his State of the Union address on January 24, President Obama stressed the importance of education in driving the U.S. economy and called on states to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.

"When students aren't allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma," Obama said. 

Although he did not directly mention a revamp of the No Child Left Behind Act, he did discuss more flexibility for states and changes to testing.

Morning Announcements: June 17, 2010

College freshman enrollment surged 6 percent in 2008 to a record 2.6 million and mostly due to rising minority enrollment, according to a new study by Pew Research Center.

The number of jobs requiring at least a two-year associate’s degree will outpace the number of people qualified to fill those positions by at least three million in 2018, according to a new report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Nevada is debating how to best tackle their dismal high school graduation rate.

New York launches efforts to make a diploma more meaningful, according to the New York Daily News.

The Missouri State Board of Education and the New Jersey State Board of Education voted to join the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Philadelphia reaches a new milestone, with the majority of public school students meeting state standards in reading and math.

Ninety percent of Washington’s 12th graders passed the statewide reading and writing tests before graduating but a much lower percentage of 10th and 11th graders scored well on the math exam, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.