As AAE gears up for the new back-to-school season, we are thrilled to launch a new video featuring many of our fantastic members from across the country.  We invite you to share this video so that educators from coast-to-coast know that there is an organization that supports the next generation of educators.   Continue Reading...

This week is National School Choice Week – a national movement of grassroots organizations calling for more educational options. Here at AAE, we support National School Choice Week because we support educators in all settings and encourage teachers to pursue the school and setting best suited to their needs and interest.As part of National School Choice Week, AAE has profiled teachers throughout the country to showcase their own unique setting and choice. Today we are profiling Ms. Debbie Gleeson, a Catholic elementary school teacher in New Jersey.   Continue Reading...

In July 2009, the National Education Association's General Counsel, Bob Chanin delivered a shocking speech that outlined the true priorities of the NEA: money and power. The claims were met by thunderous applause by the union leadership and members in attendance and these revelations generated significant commentary throughout the blogosphere.

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We often mention advances in technology on the AAE blog. Stories ranging from students organizing online study groups to learning Chinese through remote video conferencing in Shanghai have all been making national headlines. This week a sick boy in Texas is all over the blogosphere for a new technology that lets him attend class without ever leaving his home.   Continue Reading...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is fuming at the federal government's unwillingness to let his administration address a clerical error in their 1,000 page application that likely cost his state $400 million in Race to the Top funding. A simple clerical mistake on the application switched 2008-09 budget numbers for 2010-11. Two weeks prior to the final decision, New Jersey officials met with federal officials and corrected the data in person, but apparently the verbal correction was not accepted. Gov. Christie is taking full responsibility and refuses to even release the name of the mid-level staffer who made the error.  Continue Reading...

♪♫ I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill. ♪♫   Continue Reading...

AAE's Director of Education Policy and 1993 National Teacher of the Year Tracey Bailey was interviewed by CNN's American Morning about the phenomenon of student texting. Watch the video here.  Continue Reading...

Some AAE staff traveled to sunny Atlanta, Georgia (a welcome change from snow-covered Alexandria, Virginia) to attend the 2010 Coalition of Independent Educator Associations at the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) headquarters.

Independent educator associations are dedicated to putting students first, to treating educators as the professionals, and to providing teachers a choice in professional associations.

AAE, PAGE, and other associations discussed membership recruitment, legislative and legal affairs, professional learning, and charitable efforts.  Continue Reading...

AAE's Director of Education Policy, Tracey Bailey, appeared on Dr. Nancy on MSNBC last week to discuss a recent news story involving a school child being sent home and psychologically evaluated for drawing a crucifixion. Watch the interview.

For more on the story, here's a news report from Boston CBS-affiliate WBZ-TV.

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Is social media just a fad? A passing craze soon to be overtaken by another distraction? Or is this truly a new revolution in communication.

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