varies widely across countries, according to a new survey, with educators in China having the highest social standing of those countries measured.  The study, conducted by the nonprofit Varkey GEMS Foundation, based in the United Arab Emirates, looked at responses from 1,000 people in 21 countries that take part in international assessments.

Can We Solve All the Problems...Or Even One?      By Jill Berkowicz and Ann Myers   In ED Week.

We have faced and dealt with the challenge of the difference between the children who come to us from low-income families and high-income families always. Reardon points out, however, that in the last three decades the achievement gap between low-income and high-income students has grown substantially and "...economic inequality now exceeds racial inequality in education outcomes."

U.S. Supreme Court and Its Impact on Public Schools by John W. Borkowski and Christopher A. Lott  

During its October 2012 Term, which started in October 2012 and ended in June 2013, the United States Supreme Court issued a number of important rulings in cases affecting public education, but for the fourth consecutive term, the Court decided no case directly involving a public school district as a named party.  

In this standoff, the hostages are public school children. They are being held captive not by a rag tag bunch of Somali buccaneers nor by Tea Party loons with that distinctly wild-eyed serial killer look in their eyes. No, a generation of youngsters is being held instead by pinstriped corporate executives, buttoned-down foundation officers and the local school board officials those aristocrats buy and sell.