The Alliance for Excellent Education applauds the president for his continuing commitment to better preparing our nation’s students for the challenges of tomorrow, and for his desire to improve our high schools so that “every…diploma is a ticket to success.”

Bob Wise, former West Virginia governor and nine-term member of Congress, has been named president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, effective immediately. The announcement was made by Dan Leeds, the Alliance's Board Chair.

The President today demonstrated much-needed federal commitment to a severely underserved population – America’s high school students. The enhanced programs and higher standards applied to early childhood education must be extended throughout the K-12 continuum. But the funding shrinks as our students grow older. The gap in support is widening to an alarming chasm: with 25 percent of our secondary school students – that’s six million kids – reading so poorly that they can’t comprehend the material in their textbooks, America is seeing an increase in students who, if they don’t drop out, graduate unprepared for further education and to compete in a global economy.

When President Bush signed legislation this week authorizing federal education spending for the 2005 fiscal year, he took an important first step in addressing a growing crisis- the severe lack of literacy skills among secondary school students. With only 30 percent of American's high school students reading at grade level or higher, and 25 percent - that's six million kids - reading so poorly that they cannot comprehend the material in their textbooks, action is needed now.

A new policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education urges specific policy changes at the federal level to ensure that states are accurately reporting high school graduation rates. Measuring Graduation to Measure Success is being released today at a symposium in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Alliance, to examine the graduation calculation rates crisis.

Leading literacy researchers have identified 15 fundamental elements of effective adolescent literacy programs in a report to Carnegie Corporation of New York, released today by the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Some of America’s foremost education innovators lay out a bold vision for secondary school leadership in a collection of essays released by the Alliance for Excellent Education at its annual conference on American high school policy today.

The Alliance for Excellent Education announced today that Susan Frost will step down as president effective August 12, to focus exclusively on advocacy for students and other projects. Frost will continue to serve the Alliance in the role of senior advisor for the next six months, while her successor is being sought.

American schools spend more than $2.6 billion annually replacing teachers who have dropped out of the teaching profession. At a Capitol Hill briefing today, the Alliance for Excellent Education released a new report which cites comprehensive induction, especially in a teacher's first two years on the job, as the single effective strategy to stem the rapidly increasing teacher attrition rate.

Both George Bush and John Kerry want to improve the nation's public education system, and they currently have proposals before the public—and, in President Bush's case, before the Congress—that merit serious consideration. A new policy brief released today by the Alliance for Excellent Education compares the two candidates' positions on education reform as it impacts America's secondary schools and students.