As a daily magazine geared toward spurring the transformation of American public education, Dropout Nation doesn’t seek accolades or awards. Ultimately, the greatest award its editors and contributors seek is in providing every child with the teaching, curricula, and cultures of genius they need to write their own stories. At the same time, we won’t sniff at any award. And definitely not one from the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the leading advocates for expanding choice and high-quality education for African-American children.

Last night, Dropout Nation Editor RiShawn Biddle was named one of BAEO’s Ed Reform Champions Under 40, for editorializing and advocating for overhauling public education. This includes challenging the failed thinking of education traditionalists, forcing conservatives and left-leaners to rethink their ideas in his role as education columnist for The American Spectator, and helping this publication become the conscience of the school reform movement, and spotlighting how far too many children are failed each day in every community. Biddle joined a distinguished group of advocates, educators, and political leaders, including Derrell Bradford of Better Education for Kids, Wisconsin state Rep. Jason Fields, Laura McGowen-Robinson (the founder and executive director of Crown Preparatory Academy in Los Angeles), and Shekema Silveri of Mount Zion High School in Jonesboro, Ga.

It is an honor to be recognized for the work that we do here. But it cannot be forgotten that we still have so many miles to go and promises to keep to every child. And we, along with BAEO and Rocketship Education (which sponsored the award) must get going.

Dropout Nation readers in Minnesota, especially in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud area, can take time to push for transforming American public education tomorrow morning, January 14, as Editor RiShawn Biddle and Dr. Richard Vedder of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity headline the first annual Restoring Excellence in Education conference at St. Cloud University’s Brown Hall.

Like the rest of the nation, Minnesota is at a crossroads. The state spends $10 billion a year on education with little to show for it. One out of every four high school freshmen in Minnesota drop out by senior year, while three out of every 10 fourth graders in the state – including 36 percent of suburban fourth-graders from middle-class households – are functionally illiterate, according to the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Meanwhile higher education in Minnesota is also in need of an overhaul.

The Restoring Excellence in Education Conference is an opportunity to develop and share ideas and reform concepts that will bring high quality to our K-12 schools and universities. It features your editor, who will focus on getting parents engaged at all levels of education; and Dr. Vedder, who will talk the inconvenient truths about the nation’s higher education systems.

Also speaking at the event is former Minnesota State Representative Allen Quist, Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Bethany Lutheran College and the author of five books on education. He will participate in a panel on reforming K-12 education that will be chaired by State. Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), chairman of the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee, and will feature state representatives Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton) and Pam Myrha (R-Burnsville). And Rep. King Banaian (R-St. Cloud) will moderate a panel on higher education.

Learn more about the event at minnesotaeducationreform.com. Visit http://www.stcloudstate.edu/campusmap/building.asp?bldgAbbr=BH) for directions to the venue.  And come ready to help give our kids schools fit for their futures.

Dropout Nation readers in Minnesota, especially in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud area, can take time to push for transforming American public education on Saturday, January 14, as Editor RiShawn Biddle and Dr. Richard Vedder of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity headline the first annual Restoring Excellence in Education conference at St. Cloud University’s Brown Hall.

Like the rest of the nation, Minnesota is at a crossroads. The state spends $10 billion a year on education with little to show for it. One out of every four high school freshmen in Minnesota drop out by senior year, while three out of every 10 fourth graders in the state – including 36 percent of suburban fourth-graders from middle-class households – are functionally illiterate, according to the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Meanwhile higher education in Minnesota is also in need of an overhaul.

The Restoring Excellence in Education Conference is an opportunity to develop and share ideas and reform concepts that will bring high quality to our K-12 schools and universities. It features your editor, who will focus on getting parents engaged at all levels of education; and Dr. Vedder, who will talk the inconvenient truths about the nation’s higher education systems.

Also speaking at the event is former Minnesota State Representative Allen Quist, Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Bethany Lutheran College and the author of five books on education. He will participate in a panel on reforming K-12 education that will be chaired by State. Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), chairman of the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee, and will feature state representatives Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton) and Pam Myrha (R-Burnsville). And Rep. King Banaian (R-St. Cloud) will moderate a panel on higher education.

Learn more about the event at minnesotaeducationreform.com. Visit http://www.stcloudstate.edu/campusmap/building.asp?bldgAbbr=BH) for directions to the venue.  And come ready to help give our kids schools fit for their futures.

On behalf of Dropout Nation, its contributors and contributing editors, I thank you for reading, commenting, sharing, and spreading the word about this magazine and its mission of transforming American public education for all of our kids. And we thank God for blessing us with opportunities to shed light on the nation’s education crisis, and for stirring discussion about solutions for givng our kids schools fit for their futures.

I always say and write this, but we must always keep in mind that what we do is not — and should never be — for personal glory. Certainly it is always wonderful to receive praise and attention for what we do. But this isn’t about us; after all, each of us has already been (and continues to be) provided with so much from our Creator. What we must all do now is be a blessing to others, especially children who deserve to get the education they need to open doors to wonderful futures. Each day that a young man or woman drops out, it is an unavoidable tragedy. We must do so much more to be blessings to all of our kids.

As readers, you are responsible for Dropout Nation’s success. And God, along with your concern for all kids, is what brought you to these pages. As your editor, I look forward to helping each and every one of you do the most-important thing we can do in our lives: Give kids brighter futures. And we will keep our promise to you: Serve as your eyes on the reform of American public education; speak truth to influence;  be the conscience of a movement.

Once again, Dropout Nation look forward to your thoughts and your energy in the New Year — and our kids need your energy (and ours) too. Let’s keep our commitment to giving all kids the opportunity to write their own stories. As Robert Frost would say, we have miles to go and promises to keep to all of our children, everywhere they are.

Thank you. And Happy New Year!

As you may know by now, dear readers, there’s been a little extra traffic coming. Thanks to everyone who is reading and working to lead a revolution, not an evolution, in American public education.