College Offers Top Applicants Two-Thirds Off (New York Times – September 28)

Starting next year, Seton Hall University will offer early applicants with strong academic credentials two-thirds off their tuition. A discount of nearly $21,000 annually, the award is intended to ease financial anxiety and attract the strongest academic students.

Obama Urges Students to Set Their Sights on College (New York Times – September 28)

In his back-to-school address on Wednesday, Obama gave students a simple message: Keep going to school. He cited the challenges of growing up in a digital age full of distractions and emphasized the importance of hard work and persistence.

In Battle to Save Chinese, It’s Test vs. Test (Wall Street Journal – September 29)

Chinese cities are filled with advertisements for English learning institutes and tutors. English has become so intertwined within society that some natives are concerned about the decline of Chinese speaking skills. Newly developed “native speaker” exams are now being used to test and promote Chinese people’s interest in their own language.

A Vision for Public Education (Washington Post – September 29)

Out of the 55.2 million K-12 students in America, 49.2 million of them attend public schools. With rising student numbers in public schools, school and legislative officials are now stressing that a bulk of the nation's time and energy should be put into reforming and remaking education.

New Ways Students Cheat on Tests (Washington Post – September 29)

The recent scandal over a New York college student taking the SAT exam for younger teens has brought to question the security and validity of testing facilities.

The Latest in Free-Market Educational Solutions — Updated With Response (Washington Post – September 29)

Academics debate the current education system, from grading to the success of our future teachers. In a report written by Cory Koedel, an economics professor at the University of California at San Diego, he discusses how learning and education can not just be broken down into black and white statistics.

Coming Together to Kill Education Reform (TIME – September 29)

Bipartisanship is a good thing, except when the two political parties are joining forces to "paper over" education problems, Andy Rotherham writes in his column this week.

A Call for Opening Up Web Access at Schools (New York Times – September 28)

More schools around the country are embracing online technology and discouraging the blockage of internet use in schools. As part of Banned Websites Awareness Day hundreds of students and teachers throughout the country joined together to advocate the internet’s integral part of education.

CALIFORNIA: $12.6-Million Grant Will Open 13 New L.A. Charter Schools (Los Angeles Times – September 28)

Two California charter school organizations, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and Knowledge Is Power Program, have been awarded $12.6 million in federal grants to start 13 new campuses in Los Angeles. The Department of Education awarded nine grants totaling $25 million dollars to organizations to expand charter schools around the country.

HAWAII: $3.4M Grant to Help Hawaii Low-Income Students (AP/CNBC - September 29) 

The grant from the federal Department of Education will go towards helping low-income students transition to post-secondary school. 

NEW YORK: Students and Teachers Protest Limits on Web Access (New York Times – September 29)

Teachers and students from Junior High School 127 in the Bronx contacted the Department of Education on Wednesday to protest the blocking of personal blogs and social media sites on school computers. Students and schools nationwide joined the Bronx Junior High as part of the first Banned Websites Awareness Day, an offshoot of Banned Books Week organized by the American Association of School Librarians.

NEW YORK: A Push to Replicate Successful Independent Charter Schools (New York Times – September 29)

The New York City Charter School Center is working to expand charter schools throughout the New York area. The center is offering eight-week programs to pass along wisdom from already successful charter management organizations to schools interested in duplicating the results.

All statements and opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual contributors, and not of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or NBC News.