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Announcing a new Educate to Innovate Campaign on Monday, Obama said America needs to restore the nation's leadership in educating children in math and science to meet future challenges.

He told how President Lee Myung-bak explained that demanding parents are South Korea's biggest education problem.

"Even if somebody is dirt poor, they are insisting that their kids are getting the best education," Obama said Lee told him, sounding almost whimsical in describing his counterpart's biggest education problem as parents wanting excellent schools for their children.

Back home, Obama said, a major challenge is to revive the interest, opportunities and abilities of U.S. students in math and science.

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Related: Obama highlights federal grants for education reform

Education Secretary Arne Duncan joined President Obama on a trip to Wisconsin Wednesday where Obama spoke about education reform.

MADISON, Wisconsin (CNN) - President Barack Obama took his education reform campaign on the road Wednesday, highlighting a new $4.35 billion grant program designed to encourage higher standards and stronger teacher recruitment, among other things.

The "Race to the Top" fund is one of the largest federal investments in school reform in U.S. history, Obama said. It is being financed with money made available through the economic stimulus plan enacted in February.

"We're putting over $4 billion on the table ... but we're not just handing it out to states because they want it," Obama told an audience at a Wisconsin public charter school.

"If you're committed to real change in the way you educate your kids, if you're willing to hold yourselves more accountable and if you develop a strong plan to improve the quality of education in your state, then we'll offer you a big grant to help make that plan a reality."

The president outlined four key reform measures that will be used to help determine a state's eligibility for grant money.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. Department of Education is looking to give innovative school districts and non-profit organizations a share of $650 million in education stimulus money now available in a new fund, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Tuesday.

"There are many, many great ideas out there," Duncan told reporters on a conference call announcing his department's Investing in Innovation fund.

This newest pot of education stimulus money will be allocated directly to local districts - not through state education departments - with the money going to districts that either have a program that is working and needs to be expanded, or have a new idea that needs to be developed.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – One of the most unexpected controversies of the Obama administration came to a head Tuesday as the president delivered a hotly debated back-to-school speech to students across the country.

Many conservatives over the past week expressed a fear that the president's address would be used to push a partisan political agenda. Obama, however, avoided any mention of political initiatives. He repeatedly urged students to work hard and stay in school.

"There is no excuse for not trying," he told students at a high school in Arlington, Virginia.

"This isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future."

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Education Secretary Arne Duncan, pictured here in a February file photo during a visit to a D.C. charter school with the first couple, said Sunday it would be 'silly' for parents to keep their kids home from school on Tuesday when the president is set to address the nation's schoolchildren.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images/File)

(CNN) - Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Sunday that parents threatening to keep their children home Tuesday to avoid President Barack Obama's planned nationwide speech to school students were being "silly."

Appearing on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Duncan said the 18-minute speech would be posted Monday on the White House Web site so people can read it before its scheduled Internet broadcast to schoolchildren on Tuesday.

Duncan emphasized it is up to school officials whether to include the speech in the day's activities, and that the message of the speech was to encourage children to finish school.

"That's just silly," he said of anyone planning to have their kids stay home because of the speech. "They can go to school. They can not watch."

The speech is about "the president challenging young people," Duncan said in response to protests by conservatives that it would be used to force the president's political agenda on students.

Last week, conservative parents and some Republicans reacted harshly to news of the speech.
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President Obama announced a new round of education stimulus spending on Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama announced a new round of education stimulus spending Friday, unveiling a $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" fund to be allocated based on academic performance.

The money in the fund will be distributed based on plans by states to address four basic areas: adoption of internationally benchmarked standards; recruiting and retaining quality teachers and principals; building data systems to measure student success; and informing teachers on how to improve their practices and turn around low-performing schools.

States will also be judged on how well they have managed stimulus money they have already received, according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

"Discretionary award applications, including for Race to the Top funds, will be available in the coming months, and will ask, among other things, to what extent has a state increased/decreased its education budget (as a percentage of revenue) and what has a state done with the dollars it has received to date," Duncan wrote in a recent letter to Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pennsylvania.

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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talks to CNN's T.J. Holmes about disparities in the nation's school systems.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As education stimulus funds continue flowing, reaching 22 of the 50 states so far, Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Friday described the situation as an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for schools.

"You have leadership from the top, you have congressional support, you have great ideas and, lastly, and not insignificantly, we have some real resources," Duncan said at a news conference.

But the flow hasn't been fast enough for some local school districts that need to know soon what kind of cuts they will need to make in the next school year.

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The president spoke about the importance of education Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama announced new steps to help unemployed Americans Friday, targeting people out of work who want to go back to school.

The president outlined a plan under which the Department of Education will send colleges legal guidance encouraging them to increase financial aid packages for the unemployed so they can enroll in educational and training programs, while keeping their unemployment benefits.

Under Obama's initiative, colleges would consider a person's current financial situation to make it possible for them to receive Pell grants, which are available for low-income students. The unemployed person would not lose any unemployment benefits and the maximum Pell grant would be increased in July by
$500 to $5,350.

The Labor Department will also issue guidance "strongly encouraging" states to modernize their rules to allow more unemployed to continue their education without forfeiting their benefits.

"In a twenty-first century economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make," Obama said.

The unemployment system should not just be a safety net, but "a stepping stone to a new future. ... It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, and give them the measurable and differentiated skills they need to not just get through these hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back."
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President Obama will announce educational help for the unemployed on Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - New unemployment numbers are due out Friday and president Barack Obama will use the opportunity to announce new steps to help unemployed Americans.

The target of the rules will be people out of work who want to go back to school. Rules now create a catch 22: In most cases, if you are receiving unemployment compensation you have to be actively looking for a job. If you want to get more education or training, you have to give up unemployment benefits. But if you return to school you don't qualify for federal education grants since, in most cases, your qualification is based on your previous year's income.

The president is scheduled to outline a plan under which the Department of Education will send colleges legal guidance encouraging them to increase financial aid packages for the unemployed so they can enroll in educational and training programs, while keeping their unemployment benefits.

The colleges would consider the person's current financial situation to make it possible for them to receive Pell grants, which are available for low-income students. The unemployed person would not lose their unemployment benefits and the maximum Pell grant would be increased in July by $500 to $5,350.

The Labor Department will issue guidance "strongly encouraging" states to modernize their rules to allow more unemployed to continue their education without forfeiting their benefits.

President Obama, in prepared remarks, will say, "Our unemployment insurance system should no longer be a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future. It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, and give them the measurable and differentiated skills they need to not just get through these hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back."

The government is started a new Web site with information on the plan: www.opportunity.gov.

Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton visited the White House Thursday to meet with the president about education.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Call it an instance of strange political bedfellows.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rev. Al Sharpton met with President Obama at the White House Thursday to discuss education.

"I think this is an issue that should bring all Americans together," Gingrich said after the meeting. "I think that education should be the first civil right of the 21st century and I think we have to move forward from No Child Left Behind towards helping every American get ahead."

Gingrich, who is credited with the 1994 Republican Revolution, also praised the new Democratic president's policies on education.

"I think this president has shown courage, during the primaries when it was difficult," said Gingrich. "He stood out for charter schools. He has made clear his commitment to lifting the cap on charter schools. He has made clear his belief in accountability. And, I think as Americans, we can reach beyond Democrat and Republican, we can reach beyond liberal and conservative."

For Sharpton, a candidate in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary, education is a civil rights issue.

"[W]e have a crisis of inequality in this country with education," he said. "Fifty-five years after Brown vs. The Board of Education, there is still a difference in how students get up in the morning and go to school. Some are treated differently, some are funded differently, some face different principals, different teachers. There is a difference in the quality of education."

And, like Gingrich, Sharpton said that there was a bipartisan commitment to improve education.

"And we are committed across our political and ideological lines . . . . We may not agree on certain specific issues, but there must be a commitment in this country for equal education for all American young people," Sharpton said.

President Obama discussed reforming the federal student loan program at a White House appearance.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama says he wants to eliminate what he calls the "middlemen" in the federal student loan program, but he says those middlemen are banks and lenders and he predicts that he's going to have a fight on his hands.

"You have probably seen how this proposal was greeted by the special interests. The banks and lenders who have reaped a windfall from these subsidizes have mobilized an army of lobbyists to keep things the way they are. They are gearing up for battle," Obama said Friday, adding, "So am I."

Obama discussed reforming the federal student loan program at a White House appearance. His proposals include ending the Federal Family Education Loans program, which involve banks and lenders, and shifting those funds to loans directly to students.

Obama said eliminating that program would end a system where lenders are given billions of dollars "in wasteful subsidies that could be used to make college more affordable for all Americans."

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A new poll suggests Americans would take more federal money for education, even if it meant handing over control.

WASHINGTON (CNN) –  A new national poll indicates that most Americans would be willing to give up some control of their public schools to the federal government in return for more money from Washington for those schools.

Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they would like to see more federal money spent on the public schools in their communities, even if it meant increased influence by the federal government over the education policies those schools follow, with 43 percent opposed.

"There are big differences between Republicans and Democrats, but the most interesting gap is between mothers and fathers of children under 18," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Seventy-two percent of mothers favor more government influence over local schools in exchange for more money. Only about half of all fathers feel the same way. People with no children under 18 are split on the concept, with 53 percent  favoring that idea and 46 percent opposing."

The poll also suggests that Americans don't favor longer school days, but they do think the school year should be longer. Fifty-seven percent support increasing the number of days that students spend in school each year, but 55 percent oppose increasing the number of hours that students spend in school each day.

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Obama laid out his education agenda Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama began to flush out the details of one of his signature campaign promises Tuesday, outlining his plan for a major overhaul of the country's education system.

Watch: President Obama calls for new teachers

"We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us," Obama warned in an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here."

"The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy, and unacceptable for our children - and we cannot afford to let it continue," he said.

The president called for, among other things, an end to the practice of lowering state reading and math standards, as well as an end to the use of what he said was ineffective "off-the-shelf" student testing.

He also called for a longer school calendar.

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Mitch Stewart issued his first organizing update to the president's supporters Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Amid criticism from prominent Republicans that the White House is taking on too much and not focusing enough on fixing the nation’s struggling economy, the Democratic National Committee asked the president’s backers Monday to pledge their support for the three broad policy initiatives highlighted in the White House’s 2010 budget outline.

“The budget is a bold blueprint for our country’s future,” Mitch Stewart, the Director of Organizing for America says in a video message to supporters emailed Monday. “It addresses three of the most pressing challenges facing our nation – health care, energy, and education.”

In the video, Stewart announces the “Organizing for America Pledge Project,” an initiative that seeks to identify support for the president’s economic blueprint by asking individuals to complete an online pledge to support “Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy.”

“We will show in every state and in every Congressional district the hunger for leadership and long range thinking that’s in too short supply here in Washington,” Stewart says in the video.

The online form allows users to complete the pledge, and to state in their own words why they support Obama’s economic blueprint and to forward the form to their online contacts via e-mail.

“By pledging and building support, you will be taking the first steps towards establishing a nationwide grassroots network,” Stewart says in the video. “Neighborhood by neighborhood, standing side-by-side with President Obama as we bring about our agenda for change.”

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Education Secretary Arne Duncan suggests giving incentives to teachers whose students perform well.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Those lazy days of summer may become a thing of the past if the new secretary of education has his way.

Arne Duncan, the Cabinet secretary charged with overhauling America's educational system, is studying programs that keep kids in school longer to boost their academic achievements.

"When I go out and talk about that, that doesn't always make me popular with students. They like the long summers," Duncan said in an interview Wednesday with CNN conducted in the Education Department's library.

But Duncan said American students are "at a competitive disadvantage" because the United States has shorter school years than other countries such as India and China.

"It doesn't matter how poor, how tough the family background, socioeconomic challenges," Duncan said. "Where students have longer days, longer weeks, longer years - that's making a difference."

More time in school is one of several ideas under consideration as Duncan settles into his new role.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama highlighted education, along with health care and energy, Thursday when he announced the outlines of his first budget.

Click on the jump for more info about education funding in the budget.

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Education Secretary Arne Duncan visits with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, Tuesday.

ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) - Education Secretary Arne Duncan told students and educators at a Virginia high school Tuesday that he'll fight to put $20 billion in education construction funding back into the $838 billion economic stimulus package, as President Barack Obama wants.

Wakefield High School in Arlington was scheduled to be renovated next year, but that project has been pushed back at least until 2013, due in part to lack of funding, school officials said.

During his visit to an advanced placement study group in government and economics, Duncan asked students about building conditions.

"It's pretty bad," a student responded. One student said the temperature in a classroom had reached 96 degrees.

Duncan responded by giving an impromptu student civics lesson, detailing recent Capitol Hill wrangling over education funding.

"This week, there's obviously lots of debate between - a conference between - the House and Senate," he told the students. "A chance to get a huge amount of money to help our construction projects. There's a chance of no money. So, we're working really, really hard to make sure the right thing happens."

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The first lady spoke about her husband's plans for education policy during an event at the Education Department Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - In one of her first public speaking events as first lady, Michelle Obama told employees at the federal Department of Education on Monday to "roll up (their) sleeves" and prepare for "hard work" as the new administration seeks to expand education funding in the face of the economic downturn.

Watch: 'We have a lot of work to do,' first lady says

Obama also indicated that her meet-and-greet session with the department's staffers will be the first in a series of appearances with employees throughout the federal government.

"Barack and I want to say thank you for what you've done," the first lady said. "You have to build a team from the bottom up."

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