Low grading standards in university education departments will negatively affect the accumulation of skills for prospective teachers and contribute to a larger culture of low standards for educators.

Are teachers paid too much? It's a question that would ignite heated debate at the most mellow of cocktail parties. But it's a question that AEI took head-on this year.

Teachers are the most important school-level factor in student success—but as any parent knows, all teachers are not created equal. Reforms to the current quite cursory teacher evaluation system, if done well, have the potential to remove the worst-performing teachers and, even more important, to assist the majority in improving their craft.