Take the time to dive through this article with a highlighter and discuss the implications. Teacher quality and teacher education make a big difference. Sadly, the first thing most states have cut is teacher training, with some states even making the move to limit teacher education and make sure they are “in the classroom.”

This is the advice of Vicki Davis, blogger at coolcatteacher.com, who recently reviewed an excerpt from the book A Notion at Risk: Preserving Public Education as an Engine for Social Mobility, edited by Richard D. Kahlenberg.

The excerpt is from a chapter by Linda Darling-Hammond and Laura Post, titled "Inequality in Teaching and Schooling: Supporting High-Quality Teaching and leadership in Low-Income Schools." The excerpt begins: "Few Americans realize that the U.S. educational system is one of the most unequal in the industrialized world, and students routinely receive dramatically different learning opportunities based on their social status."

Read the full blog post.