The Standup.org campaign that was mentioned on The Oprah Winfrey Show today, August 7, 2008, was a repeat of a show from earlier this year.  As part of a two-day report: 'American Schools in Crisis,' on which Bill and Melinda Gates, the founders and co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, were featured.

The Oprah Winfrey Show teamed up with Time magazine, which devoted its April 17th cover story, 'Dropout Nation,' to the problems in U.S. high schools.

If you type in standup.org you will be redirected to edin08.com.

According to Edin'08.com:

Strong American Schools is a nonpartisan public awareness and advocacy effort aimed at elevating discussion amongst America's leaders about the need for education reform.

This campaign seeks to unite all Americans around the crucial mission of improving our public schools by elevating the discussion to a national stage.

STAND UP

Strong American Schools and the ED in 08 campaign are the successors to the Standup.org campaign launched in 2006.

Ed in '08 has a 'Get The Facts' section and I was astounded to read some of the facts.  Here is a sample of what you will find there:

The world is changing, jobs are evolving, and far too many students are simply not being prepared to be successful adults:

• Seventy percent of eighth graders are not proficient in reading—and most will never catch up.
• Every year, more than 1.2 million students drop out of high school.
• Many of those who do graduate are not ready for college, for the workplace, and for life.

These are some pretty sobering and sad facts.  If you are a parent with school age children I urge you to check out edin08.org (formally Standup.org ).  Ed in 08 provides valuable information, guidance and tools for parents and teachers.