The students base their research projects on problems they want to solve: A solar-powered cellphone charger ... “You are linking the students’ interest in what they need to know and making it relevant to them,” said Bob Wise, a former West Virginia governor who leads the nonprofit Alliance for Excellent Education.

Being able to read well is more important than ever for young adults seeking to achieve economic success. But more than 60 percent of middle and high school students score below “proficient” in reading achievement, according to a December 2011 report by the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Students at Notre Dame de Sion High School are allowed to bring their own laptops, smartphones and other devices to class as part of the school’s Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) policy...Some organizations, like the Alliance for Excellent Education, believe digital education is coming whether schools are ready or not and is already making Internet access for all students one of its missions.

When the dust settled from lawmakers’ skirmish over this year’s federal budget, educational technology was one of the big losers, as Congress eliminated the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) block-grant program...Without EETT funding, the nation’s schools could fall even further behind competing nations, said former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, who is now president of the Alliance for Excellent Education.

A large part of how the state of Wyoming judges its high schools is by the number of students a school doesn't graduate, or the drop-out rate [...] The state of Wyoming loses an estimated $13 million per graduating class in remediation, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.

The advocacy group Alliance for Excellent Education reported that reducing the number of Stockton dropouts by half in 2010 would generate tens of millions of dollars annually in increased earnings and spending, hundreds of new jobs and more tax dollars to pay for government services and - yes - schools.

One of the key measures of Lafayette Parish public schools' strengths and weaknesses, as identified by our survey of readers, is the graduation rate [...]  An analysis of U.S. Census data by the Alliance for Excellent Education found that in 2005, the average holder of a bachelor's degree made about $52,000 a year.

Here’s to leadership in moving education forward: Alliance for Excellent Education President Bob Wise and Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Open Education Solutions, continue to discuss the benefits of digital learning when they review the findings from the 2011 PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

California's dropout statistics are horrifying. Only 68 percent of our entering freshmen class graduate from high school in four years...The Alliance for Excellent Education has reported that if just one-half of the Class of 2010's dropouts from California's six largest metropolitan areas received a high school diploma, the economic benefits to California would be fantastic: these new graduates would invest an additional $247 million a year in the economy, increase home sales by $2.94 billion and increase annual state and local tax revenues by $129 million.

If you know any high school graduates, make sure to congratulate them today...A high school graduate earns an average of more than $9,500 a year more than a student who drops out, plus they have an employment rate twice as high as those who dropped out of high school, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.