Angelo Drummond wears a pressed white shirt and a red power tie for his two-hour presentation to his harshest critics — a panel of fellow students at Camden's MetEast High School.

Iranian protesters are being encouraged to tap a source that helped drive a decade of nonviolent revolutions in Eastern Europe: a guide to toppling dictatorships written by a retired U.S. scholar.

College students will see some changes when they show up for fall semester.

Classes will be bigger. Libraries and computer labs will have shorter hours. Fewer class sections will be offered. Equipment will be older.

Expect all that and more as colleges slashed their budgets because of cuts in state funding and declined revenue from endowments and other investments.

Students, parents and professors: How worried are you about these cuts?

What will this do to the quality of education students receive and their ability to graduate on time?

Georgia was one of several states cited in a new report for having low math and reading standards in middle school.

The study from the Southern Regional Education Board — a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that advocates for education in Georgia and 15 other states - says weak standards fail to prepare students for the rigor of high school.

While schools and states have succeeded in boosting student achievement in elementary school, many studies and experts say problems develop when kids enter middle school.

Where do you see these gaps? Take reading. In Georgia, 88 percent of students passed the CRCT in 2007 but only 70 percent passed that year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In math, the study noted students across the country are being pushed to learn algebra and other advanced lessons before they’ve mastered basic skills.

Georgia has introduced new math standards requiring middle school students to learn algebra and other topics previously taught in high …

July 1 is the day new state laws go into effect. This year Georgians have 89 new laws, including several tied to schools.

The new school laws include:

HB 149 (the “Move on When Ready Act”) allows high school juniors and seniors to attend college and earn credit toward a high school and college diploma.

HB 251 allows families to transfer their child to any public school within their home district provided the campus has room. The bill’s sponsor and others have complained about the rules the state education department developed concerning this new law.

SB 8 allows students with allergies to administer epi-pen injections at school.

HB 280 provides salary increases for math and science teachers in 2010. No money has been set aside, but there has been some discussion about applying for stimulus money the U.S. Department of Education doles out for innovative programs.

What do you think of these new laws? Will these help schools or just create more headaches for teachers, principals …

There’s been a lot of buzz on listservs about Kevin Jennings, who Monday takes over as head of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of safe and drug-free schools.

Jennings - best known as the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network - is expected to place heavy emphasis on combating the verbal and physical bullying many students experience in school.

Many school safety experts have said school officials need to understand that taunts, threats and other forms of verbal abuse can be just as disruptive as weapons and drugs in school. Both, they said, make it difficult for students to learn.

Some experts said they expect Jennings to focus on ways to decrease bullying in school and to teach students tolerance.

Bullying is often an issue here. In April an 11-year-old hanged himself and his family blamed the suicide on the excessive bullying they said he received at Dunaire Elementary School in Stone Mountain.

An investigation followed with a taskforce …

A Gwinnett County teacher was named Miss Georgia Saturday, but Kristina Higgins turned down the honor the next day, saying she was worried about balancing her duties.

“Due to my current job responsibilities as a middle school teacher and the responsibilities and time commitment as Miss Georgia, I have decided to not fulfill the duties of Miss Georgia 2009,” Higgins said in a statement released by the Miss Georgia Scholarship Pageant.

The runner-up, Emily Cook from Cobb County, received the title and will represent the state at the Miss American competition in January.

I can only imagine how hard it would be to represent the state and still work as a full-time teacher.

But this story got me thinking of what things teachers can’t do. Either because they don’t have the time or they’re worried about how outside activities would reflect on their work. For example, I know teachers who would like to bartend to make extra money but worry about what would happen if parents saw …