There has been a growing consensus across the country - from statehouses to the White House and the halls of Congress - that we need to take dramatic steps to improve our secondary schools.

The privatization plan weakens Social Security and threatens our economic security by creating trillions of dollars in new debt.

One of the most important improvements in the No Child Left Behind Act for migrant students was the requirement for electronic transfer of migrant student records.

We need to work together, on a bipartisan basis, to create new jobs, increase job training, enact real and substantive middle class tax relief, and reward companies that create jobs at home.

If we do not get No Child Left Behind right for Limited English Proficient students, the law will be a failure for most schools in the 15th Congressional District, and for many across the nation.

As problems like identity theft become more prevalent, now more than ever, Americans need to take their financial health seriously - and this information is of the utmost importance.

Currently, only 70 percent of our high school students earn diplomas with their peers, and less than one-third of our high school students graduate prepared for success in a four-year college.

Tragically, the White House Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth reported that one-quarter of our young people are at serious risk of not achieving productive adulthood.

While I do commend the Administration on its commitment and focus on high school reform, I believe that we must focus on graduation as the key accountability measure.

We must not allow this generation to produce record numbers for the juvenile justice, runaway and homeless youth, or foster care systems.

Closing the gap for women entrepreneurs should be a priority for the federal government - and yet the Small Business Administration has failed in their promise to women business owners.

I want to go after dreams that are destined to fail without diving intervention.

Taking personal responsibility is the major difference between the best and the rest.

Sometimes you have to be alone to truly know your worth.

It was the time of year that makes every poet’s heart sing and every lawyer question their life choices.

The future is a great land.

Prayer is a sign of repentance, a desire to become better, purer.

The property of others is always more inviting than our own; and that which we ourselves possess is most pleasing to others.

Whenever there is a conflict between precept and example, the latter wins because deeds speak louder than our words.

Should your riches increase, let your mind keep pace with them.

If you don't know your gift, you've got no lift.