I cheered at my TV today! Thanks to Meet the Press!

Thank you, thank you, Meet the Press, for bringing together Arne Duncan, Newt Gingrich, and Al Sharpton to discuss education. It was a very powerful, positive, and uplifting show. Takeaways? It's all about results--we have a results problem. All of us need to move outside our comfort zones and focus on children, not adults. Schooling is our 21st century civil right. Parents need to work as partners with schools, not fight with them. And on it went. Fantastic.

If you missed it, it's today, November 15 Meet the Press: http.//www.msnbc.com/id/8987534/ns/meet_the_press.

To put it all in context, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has 4.5 billion dollars to spend on excellent programs and proposals that focus on results... in the "Race to the Top" funds. Let us wish them all well.

But consider that he also will spend 12 billion dollars in ADDITIONAL funds for special education--even while that system is still input, not outcome, driven, and fully needs reform.

That is what my new book is about: Fixing Special Education--12 Steps to Transform a Broken System. Its publication date is this week! November 18! It is available at http://www.parkplacepubs.com and http://www.schoollawpro.com