It didn't get a lot of attention, but during his State of the State speech last week Gov. Sean Parnell set a bold educational goal for Alaska. He wants to improve the graduation rates in our public schools to 90 percent by the year 2020.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $1.9 million to the University of Alaska Fairbanks linguistics program. The award funds a three-year project...

Anne Michaud's article in the October 31st Juneau Empire titled "Focus on pay equity for women misses a host of other important family issues" repeats the same old tired excuses for why women are paid less than men for the same job.

NOTE: This is the last in a two-part report on technology issues and future planning in the Juneau School District.

The newly formed Northwest Regional Advisory Council is soliciting comments from a wide array of education stakeholders on the most pressing education issues for the region, which comprises Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.The council will provide a formal report to the U.S. Department of Education this summer to assist in directing the future focus of federal support at the local and state levels.

The U.S. Department of Education provides a web site that provides information about tuition and net prices at postsecondary institutions. See http://collegecost.ed.gov/.

The U.S. Department of Education has launched a Web page devoted to rural education information and resources. See www.ed.gov/rural-education.

The federal Department of Education is drafting waivers for states for the No Child Left Behind Act testing requirements known as Adequate Yearly Progress and Alaska is expecting to at least look at the offer.

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times: The big announcement from the U.S. Department of Education implied that schools were unfairly disciplining African American students, and that's how it was played in news reports.

JUNEAU - It would be wrong for the state to wait for Congress to overhaul No Child Left Behind and not consider seeking waivers from the federal law, Alaska's education commissioner said Tuesday.