Teachers across the country work hard to educate their students and keep everyone at grade level or above. However, now there is a new commission that will be dedicated solely to closing the achievement gap that plagues the nation. Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently announced the formation of the Equity and Excellence Commission, which was the brainchild of Congressmen Charka Fattah and Mike Honda. “Today we are celebrating a significant milestone in the historic effort to close the achievement gap that has plagued our nation’s schools. The Equity and Excellence Commission I worked with Congressman Honda to initiate and that has been established by Secretary Arne Duncan will begin to close the gap in resource distribution between rich and poor skills,” said Fattah. “The new commission means that every child can look forward to the day when he or she will have an opportunity to realize their full potential.” The members of the new commission will be chosen from a bipartisan group and will be made up of people with a vast knowledge of the educational world. This announcement comes on the heels after the second round of “Race to the Top” state contestants were released. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the educational services sector is the second largest industry in the country, accounting for 13.5 million jobs in 2008.  |