How can you not?! Dalton Sherman has more charisma and charm in his pinky toe than most people can ever dream of. Prepared to be in inspired.

Here is 10 year old Dalton wowing 20,000 Teachers

Can I get an AMEN?
And here Dalton Sherman on Ellen

takepart and donate to the Charles Rice Learning Center where Dalton Shermon is currently learning (and obviously turning into an amazing young adult!)

Mr. Senate in "Boston Public"

In what appears to be a first in the country, a Texas school district has OK’d teachers to carry guns into school this fall.

Said the Harrold Independent School District superintendent, David Thweatt:

“We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, ‘What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?” he said. “It’s just common sense.”

This reminds me of that great episode from Boston Public in which Mr. Senate (pictured above, right) shoots a blank gun in class to get the students’ attention. But something tells me this isn’t what the Texas teachers have in mind…

In “Boston Public,” Mr. Senate shot a gun in class — but not for the same reason that teachers in Texas presumably want/need to do so…

Yesterday April 23rd, The Global Campaign for Education’s World’s Biggest Lesson took place. The campaign aimed to unite millions of children, teachers, parents and campaigners across the globe in their attempt to break the world record, and ensure everyone has an education. Politicians, officials and journalists were taught, alongside children and parents, on Quality Education to End Exclusion. Check out the video below for more.

and visit www.campaignforeducation.org/biggestlesson/

Yikes! The AP reports that seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland. The report released Tuesday by America’s Promise Alliance, found that in the nation’s largest cities only about half of the students in public school systems receive diplomas whereas students in suburban and rural public high schools were more likely to graduate than those in urban public high schools.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.
“When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe,” said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance.
His wife, Alma Powell, the chair of the alliance, said students need to graduate with skills that will help them in higher education and beyond. “We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community.” The Powell’s organization was beginning a national campaign to cut high school dropout rates. [AP]

A good education starts with a good teacher. The PBS documentary The First Year offers some insight into the challenges that teachers face when

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A recent research study says that parents, not students, are the real reason for teacher burnout. Teacher burnout is generally characterized by feelings of emotional exhaustion, and the appearance of feeling uncaring or cynical about students’ abilities to reach personal goals. Rowdy students and unrealistic bureaucratic expectations are cited as common causes of teacher burnout, but the German-based study found that parents put the most pressure on teachers “to be perfect.”

The study is particularly relevant to American schools as teacher turnover increases with baby-boomers retiring and new teachers leaving the field. Approximately 8.4 percent of teachers in the nation’s 3.2 million public schools left the field in 2003-2004.