Estimated number of people in the United States born on Leap Day (February 29th): 205,000.

Every four years is a leap year. Leap years add one extra day to February due to an astronomical fact that the earth’s revolution around the sun equals 365.25 days not 365.00 like the Gregorian calendar follows. The probability of a leap day birthday is 1/1461, therefore, a leap day birthday on February 29 is the least probable of all birthdays. This means that less than 0.07% of the world’s population was born on a leap day.

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Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, will serve on a new high-profile national commission to raise standards for teacher preparation across the nation and help ensure that every classroom in the United States has an effective teacher. Announced yesterday by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the Commission on Standards and Performance Reporting will develop rigorous accreditation standards for educator preparation that will raise the bar for preparation providers.

“The quality of a child’s teacher is the single most important school-related factor influencing student achievement,” said Wise. “With the development of the common core state standards, it is even more urgent to improve teacher effectiveness in delivering instruction.”

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Good Morning and Happy Leap Day! February 29 only comes around once every four years so enjoy it now before you don’t see it again until 2016.

Education Week reports that the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a largely partisan, GOP-backed legislation reauthorizing portions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The bills, both introduced by U.S. Representative John Kline of Minnesota, would scale down the federal role in education and give states much more control when it comes to K-12 policy.

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Following up on Alliance Senior Fellow Robert Rothman’s blog post from last week, Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, responds to individuals who are skeptical of the impact that the common core state standards will have on student achievement.

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Good Morning and Happy Pancake Day! Grab yourself a short stack with all the fixings and kick back to some morning education news. Just try not to get syrup on the keyboard.

After a horrific school shooting at an Ohio school, the Associated Press  reports that authorities have announced that a student wounded has been declared brain dead. This is the second reported fatality in an attack that began when a teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at a suburban Cleveland high school yesterday. A quick thinking teacher is being credited with prevent an even larger massacre.

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It is no secret that President Obama’s love of basketball resonates within the White House, but it looks as though the Commander in Chief’s cabinet could double for its own all-star team. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wowed the crowd inside the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida over the weekend for the 2012 NBA All-Star Celebrity Basketball Game.

Despite the presence of famous actors, comedians, rappers, and NBA legends, Secretary Duncan garnered the most buzz on social networking sites such as Twitter, at one point becoming 5 of the top trending topics in the United States. Duncan showcased his skills, especially in the first half, providing one of the game’s best highlights with a spinning, over-the-shoulder pass to rapper J. Cole. Although a star athlete when he played college basketball at Harvard, the now 47-year-old Duncan still put on a show with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists while leading the East to a blow-out win over the West: 86-54.

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Greetings! We hope you enjoyed your weekend and are ready to get back into the trenches advocating for quality education for all. To help you get started, take a look at some of the latest headlines.

In New York City, the United Federation of Teachers is seeking to politically capitalize on a recent legal setback after the rankings of more than 18,000 teachers were made available to the public. As the New York Times reports, the hotly contested move is actually helping to galvanize members and mobilize allies on the left.

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Happy Friday! We bring you the Morning Announcements even earlier so that you can get caught up on all the latest education news before the afternoon lag sets in and you mysteriously disappear from the office. Enjoy!

Education Week is reporting that the U.S. Department of Education has begun switching its focus to the most important part of the No Child Left Behind waiver process: holding states accountable for the promises they’ve made. With 11 states now granted an exemption from some parts of the No Child Left Behind Act and another round of states preparing their waiver applications, the Education Department now stands ready to monitor subgroups.

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Good Morning! Before you head to lunch, catch up on the latest in education news with the following headlines.

Anti-bullying initiatives made be having an impact in the classroom and schools across the county. According to the Associated Press, violent crime in U.S. schools is declining, and students and schools are reporting less bullying and gang activity. This is welcome news for anti-bullying advocates.

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Number of public schools in Chicago that are in danger of closing: 17

Community activists, parents, students and union leaders all across the Midwestern city are gathering at the headquarters of Chicago Public Schools to object to a reform package that includes closing or overhauling 17 struggling schools. They hope to pressure the board to reject the measure.

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