NPR Ed – Claudio Sanchez
“…the president touted the fact that more kids are graduating from high school and college than ever before. “We believed we could prepare our kids for a more competitive world,” he said in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech. “And today, our younger students have earned the highest math and reading scores on record.” That’s true, according to the latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called “the nation’s report card.” But compared with other industrialized nations, American 15-year-olds, for example, still do poorly, especially in math…he tied his education agenda to the economy and his promise to make a college education more affordable. He said, “By the end of this decade, 2 in 3 job openings will require some higher education.” But too many Americans, the president said, are priced out of the education they need. “That’s why I am sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college — to zero.””(more)