QUOTE OF THE WEEK "Students matter more than anyone or anything in public education. How schools perform is a barometer of a school's effectiveness. If students perform poorly, it means schools are performing poorly. If students are performing well, it means schools are performing well. The reality is that most schools perform well for some children and the same schools perform poorly for other students...That is why so many schools continue not to meet the learning needs of so many students. Students have to come first, and their performance has to be the gauge by which schools measure their effectiveness." -M. Hayes Mizell (Director of Program for Student Achievement, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation)

The PEN NewsBlast is a free weekly e-mail newsletter featuring school reform and school fundraising resources. The PEN NewsBlast is the property of the Public Education Network, a national association of 53 local education funds working to improve public school quality in low-income communities nationwide.