It is a rollicking good time down in Music City — Nashville, Tennessee — for this year’s Education Writers Association National Seminar.

In 1990, I had the honor and privilege to be at Spelman College as the nation’s historically black colleges and universities came together to honor Nelson Mandela.  Mandela had just been released from prison.  HBCU after HBCU presented him with honorary degrees, both in recognition for his sacrifice and for the hope and promise he was now to bring to his country and to the world.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the establishment of West Virginia.  The Mountain State is one of Eduflack’s adopted home states (as this morning demonstrated, though, you can take the boy out of Jersey, but you’ll never take Jersey out of the boy).  I graduated high school from West Virginia (Jefferson County High School in Shenandoah Junction) and I was able to proudly serve the state for several years as a staffer to the legendary Robert C. Byrd.

Mr. President, today I rise to speak to you in honor of the people of the great State of West Virginia in recognition of our State’s 129th birthday.

On the 20th of June in 1863, the State of West Virginia was born.  The product of a crisis between the States, West Virginia earned its place as the 35th State to join the Union, through incredible bravery and initiative.

This spirit of initiative has remained with our fair State since its inception.  The proud people of West Virginia have consistently served this country through the good times and the bad.  We have fought valiantly for our country, we have provided for our families through hardship and prosperity, and we have worked to establish the greatest community, State, and country that we possibly could.

Mountaineer pride is evident still today, throughout the State.  This pride has attracted hundreds of thousands of vacationers to our fair State.  They have fallen in love with our majestic mountains ideal for skiing, our racing white water rivers, and our beautiful national parks.  One only needs to open any local West Virginia newspaper to see the numerous letters written from vacationers commending the State on both its attractions and its people.

THis feeling has led many people to continue to visit the Mountain State and has brought many more to relocate permanently in our fair State for good.  Thanks to the hospitality and kindness of West Virginia’s native residents, our Mountain State quickly becomes home for her new citizens, and remains a place where pride and hard work thrive.

So, on this, the 129th birthday of our State, I ask you, Mr. President, and my other colleagues, to join me in recognizing this important day for West Virginia, and for all her citizens who have made West Virginia a State that I am proud to represent and call home.

Did you miss me?  Earlier this year, Eduflack announced that he was taking a bit of a sabbatical from this blog to focus on some other writing projects and some new ideas.  Well, now I back and ready to relaunch Eduflack in earnest.

It’s been about two and a half years since dear ol’ Eduflack’s last vacation.  So today’s I’m packing up the car and taking the edu-family down to the Jersey shore for a week of vacay (or at least as much vacay as one can get with a six year old and a soon-to-be five year old).

This week, Eduflack celebrates its fifth birthday!  That makes this blog about a year younger than my son, and about six months older than my daughter.  

Just a quick note of apology to loyal Eduflack readers.  I realize that posts have been a little light in recent weeks.  As I have been fighting the fight for school improvement in my day job, I’ve finally had to realize there are only so many hours in the day.  Unfortunately, that has meant that Eduflack (and by extension, @Eduflack on Twitter) has suffered some.

Yesterday, I was on the road, driving back from edu-Grandma’s 94th birthday party.  Such drives are usually the ideal time for Eduflack to reflect, plan, and think through those “big ideas.”  It also gives me the time listen to some of those personal theme songs that litter my iPod.

Folks call me a maverick 
Guess I ain’t too diplomatic 
I just never been the kind to go along 
Just avoidin’ confrontation 
For the sake of conformation 
And I’ll admit I tend to sing a different song 
But sometimes you just can’t be afraid 
To wear a different hat 
If Columbus had complied 
This old world might still be flat 
Nothin’ ventured, nothin’ gained 
Sometimes you’ve got to go against the grain 
Well, I have been accused 
Of makin’ my own rules 
There must be rebel blood 
Just a-runnin’ through my veins 
But I ain’t no hypocrite 
What you see is what you get 
And that’s the only way I know 
To play the game 
Old Noah took much ridicule 
For building his great ark 
But after forty days and forty nights 
He was lookin’ pretty smart 
Sometimes it’s best to brave the wind and rain 
By havin’ strength to go against the grain 
Well, there’s more folks than a few 
Who share my point of view 
But they’re worried 
If they’re gonna sink or swiim 
They’d like to buck the system 
But the deck is stacked against ’em 
And they’re a little scared 
To go out on a limb 
But if you’re gonna make a difference 
If you’re gonna leave your mark
You can’t follow like a bunch of sheep 
You got to listen to your heart 
Go bustin’ in like old John Wayne 
Sometimes you got to go against the grain 
Nothin’ ventured, nothin’ gained 

While Eduflack has spent a great part of the last half decade focused on high school redesign, the horrid state of drop-out factories, and the general college and career readiness pipeline, I’ve also called out for greater investment in early childhood education.  Like many others, I have recommended that we pay greater attention to high-quality ECE, particularly as it relates to pre-reading programs and a general embrace of evidence-based instruction for our youngest learners.

Effective early learning programs are essential to prepare our children for success in school and beyond.  A dedicated early learning office will institutionalize, elevate and coordinate federal support for high-quality early learning, while enhancing support for state efforts to build high-performing early education systems.

Improving early
learning programs for children birth through third grade is critical work and
plays a fundamental role in building a cradle to college and career education
system for our children. Research consistently shows that high-quality early
learning programs benefit children, our society, and our national prosperity.
It is simply one of the most cost-effective investments America can make in its
future.  

In this year’s State
of the Union address, the President posited that “if we raise expectations for
every child, and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the
day they are born until the last job they take – we will reach the goal that I
set two years ago:  By the end of the decade, America will once again have
the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”

Our children deserve nothing
less than a strong start to a life filled with opportunity, and it all starts
with successful early learning programs. Through the courage, skill, and
commitment of states across the country, early learning has already begun its
transformation. An Office of Early Learning will allow our Department to better
support their efforts, deepen public awareness of the impact of this work, and
leverage early learning investments in ways that raise quality and expand
access for more children.

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First order of business, the new Office will focus on the administration of those Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grants.  Beyond that, the charge of the office is anyone’s guess.  But let there be no mistake.  This is an important step forward for both ECE and the P-20 learning continuum.  It is no secret that the percentage of students failing to read at at least grade level by third grade is remarkably similar to the high school drop-out rate.  And there is little question that those with a strong, evidence-based preK experience are far better prepared for hitting that early reading proficiency rates.