The idea that computers can ever replace teachers and schools reveals a deep lack of understanding about the role leadership plays in student success.

While I started out with a vague understanding that diversity would be important, my own observations have led me to realize that achieving greater levels of diversity is in fact vital to our long-term success.

We're not trying to be the only route into teaching. We do put enormous energy into understanding what differentiates the most successful teachers.

Technology has enormous potential to address educational needs more efficiently, help teachers improve their performance, and enrich and individualize student learning.

If leaders in the space program had at its beginning in the 1940s, pointed out the benefits to people on earth rather than emphasizing the search for proof of evolution in space, the program would have saved $100 billion in tax money and achieved greater results.

Reading develops cognitive skills. It trains our minds to think critically and to question what you are told. This is why dictators censor or ban books. It's why it was illegal to teach slaves to read. It's why girls in developing countries have acid thrown in their faces when they walk to school.

The sign of a great leader is knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know.

We say arts education is good for general education, but that's not the point. The arts are what great nations are remembered for. They are a mirror.