the no. 1 state for solving this riddle that this country has become from being the no. 1 public education nation to one in the bottom half. we know the things -- at risk kids are coming from difficult neighborhoods and often broken families, they need a longer school day. that is nothing new there. there's another way to do that without spending a bunch of money. you can get your teachers union to agree to stagger the school day. some teachers come in early and you have study hall, some come in later and you have sports after school. there is a bunch of ways to address education. great teachers more than parent involvement or anything, you put a great teacher in front of a kid, they work miracles. i think our goal is to say that we're going to fix education. we're working statewide to begin to implement. we do not want them filling out multiple choice tests but you have to measure the effectiveness of a teacher. our goal is sitting down with the union and having them at the table to say, how do you help us figure out, i was a geologist. i thought i would be a great geologist. i got laid off. i w

possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the to trust.yfaar later, i will talk with kazakhstan's foreign minister. right now, a visit with the u.s. ambassador to kazakhstan, kenneth fairfax. >> what should americans know about kazakhstan? >> i think the short answer is a lot more than they currently do. >> thank you. >> it is the ninth largest country on earth. it is a country that has a rather extraordinary relations

. >> "this is america" is made possible by the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation afo communications. >> during our recent visit to cassocks down -- has expand -- recent visit, we discover the city of contrasts. the old capital of almaty is home to culture and education while the new capital is home to the government's. in almaty, we visited a huge old world market. they call it the green bazaar, selling all kinds of goods. our translator explains. >> we are in the central market of almaty. there are a lot of ethnic groups represented here. many of them filled traditional gaps. for example, the green bazaar. they have different sweets and dried berries. >> we discovered a different kind of shopping experience in astana. the largest tent in the world designed to replicate a traditional yurt. it even has its very own indoor beach. it is similar to american malls, but this one has its own perch. kazakhstan is a huge country and business activity is very diverse. financial centers in

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. this year, kazakhstan celebrates its 20th anniversary of independence. on this program, we will learn about what it was like before independence 20 years ago, and y president made kazakhstan the success it is today and why diversifying its economy will be the key to kazakhstan's even brighter future. >> it was a while the economy, while business economy, and a great economy mainly. today, we have a lot of public companies. our businessmen are doing international joint ventures. if you take the society as a whole, are people became much more open-minded, a free, outspoken people, and we are much different from what we were before. >> has that been exciting to be a part of? >> i was 20 years old when kazakhstan became independent. our generation of businessmen, they were not that successful because they probably did not get that much influence in com

education. thank you, dennis. >> thank you, dennis. >> and"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. new zealand has one of the top education systems in the world. to learn about the how and why of its success, i talked with the minister of education. i read these big reports, and they say that new zealand always is ranking in the top-10 of all school systems all over the world. what is the secret of success? >> there is no one secret of success. in order to get a system that is made up of many parts, one of them is that we have a highly inspirational culture as a society where a small country, -- we are a small country, the last stop before antarctica. we know that we have to trade to survive. to do that, we have designed -- to design products and services that the world wants. that means that our biggest resource is located between the two years of our citizens. that means we have to constantly ensure that how we contribute, we manage the resour

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. later, i will talk with kazakhstan's foreign minister. right now, a visit with the u.s. ambassador to kazakhstan, kenneth fairfax. >> what should americans know about kazakhstan? >> i think the short answer is a lot more than they currently do. >> thank you. >> it is the ninth largest country on earth. it is a country that has a rather extraordinary relations with the united states, and yet most people really know either nothing or worse than nothing -- what they have seen in a movie, which is the opposite of reality, of course. there is a lot to learn. >> what are the mutual interests of the two countries, the united states and kazakhstan? >> we have many. you can look at it as an edgy, food security. lots of overlapping interests. but what would come to most people first is non- proliferation and world security. kazakhstan, after the fall of the

. >> "this is america" is made possible by the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation. afo communications. and the rotandaro family trust. >> having heard so much about finland's successes in public education, i had a chance to sit and talk with tapio kosunen from the ministry of education in finland. why is education and finland -- wise education in finland so successful? what is the real answer? >> it is very much appreciated. >> appreciated? by the general public? >> by the general public and as a means to have a decent life. >> so, you are not so much concerned, i gather if i am hearing you correctly, not so much with scores and statistics, but more as a total human being? >> yes. that is the point. we do not use any standardized tests. >> would you say that again out loud? >> we do not use any standardized tests in finland. actually, we have won a standardized test. which is the examination after secondary school. >> towards the end of their time at secondary schools? >> yes. >>

public library. a great message to the schoolchildren. >> and what education nation has done to us is tremendous. >> my education started in the new york public schools? >> where? >> ps 105 in the bronx. >> in the bronx. >> you know we have 1750 schools in new york city right now and we have opened up 600 new schools since the mayor has been in office. it's been an outstanding opportunity to offer choice to our parents and whether it's small schools, large schools, district schools, charter schools, single sect schools, we believe in choice and what the mayor has done has been tremendous opening up high quality schools for our parents and children shoe tell us about this initiative you and the mayor are announcing today which is early childhood education. >> we announced two things, one we're creating 4,000 new full day seats for pre-k, for 4-year-olds, an additional 4,000 seats and we're devoting roughly $20 million. announced a brand new initiative called edu care new york. a model across the country that's an outstanding model of engaging children from the time they are six weeks old to five years

first let's check in with savannah at nbc's education nation at the public library. gain we're here at the public library on education nation, and we're highlighting the critical need for early education. it can really make a difference. just reading to your children can make a huge difference. the president and ceo of jump start joins us and jed bennett represents the organization's partner the penguin young readers group. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> read for the record is a great event you do every year and the idea, as we mentioned before, is read the same book, get as many people to do it and set a world record. why do you think this makes a difference? >> as you said, it's the world's largest shared reading experience, so people come to celebrate literacy, and i think maybe more importantly is actually the call of attention to the critical need for early childhood education. we know that children enter kindergarten already significantly behind their more affluent peers, as much as 18 months behind, and once children start behind they tend to

first let's check in with savannah at nbc's education nation at the public library. gain we're here at the public library on education nation, and we're highlighting the critical need for early education. it can really make a difference. just reading to your children can make a huge difference. the president and ceo of jump start joins us and jed bennett represents the organization's partner the penguin young readers group. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> read for the record is a great event you do every year and the idea, as we mentioned before, is read the same book, get as many people to do it and set a world record. why do you think this makes a difference? >> as you said, it's the world's largest shared reading experience, so people come to celebrate literacy, and i think maybe more importantly is actually the call of attention to the critical need for early childhood education. we know that children enter kindergarten already significantly behind their more affluent peers, as much as 18 months behind, and once children start behind they tend to

"this is america" is made possible by -- the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation, afo communications, and the rotondaro family trust. this year, kazakhstan celebrates its 20th anniversary of independence. on this program, we will learn about what it was like before independence 20 years ago, and how oil and a visionary president made kazakhstan the success it is today and why diversifying its economy will be the key to kazakhstan's even brighter future. >> it was a while the economy, while business economy, and a great economy mainly. today, we have a lot of public companies. our businessmen are doing international joint ventures. if you take the society as a whole, are people became much more open-minded, a free, outspoken people, and we are much different from what we were before. >> has that been exciting to be a part of? >> i was 20 years old when kazakhstan became independent. our generation of businessmen, they were not that successful because they probably did not get that

education. [applause] national public broadcasting and no funding president of campaigns are any campaigns. i will not take taxpayer dollars. that is $180 million. let them pay for their own conventions. >> protect from unnecessary ford wars? >> we would not be involved unless following the constitution congress declared war. [applause] john: we should not be in afghanistan although they supported those of 9/11? >> it is up to congress. that is up to the congress. john: but then use troops to stop the invasion from mexico. reduce illegal immigration. english is the open shall language. >> but we have a huge invasion of our country from south of the border. we need to stop all illegal immigration we need to balance the budget it costs billions of dollars. legal immigration, not a student visa i am a near complete moratorium of green card emissions that means you can go anywhere until unemployment is under 5%. we need to have jobs and united states first for united states citizens. john: term limits? >> those are almost of the constitution but would jefferson and madison and those writing wit

this year's education nation begins on sunday and nbc's danielle leigh has a preview from washington. >> reporter: new york city's public library will soon host the nation's leaders in education, government, business, philanthropy and media. >> thank you all for coming. >> reporter: more than 300 people all brought together by nbc to seek solutions to the biggest issues facing america's education system. >> we just think at nbc that we can shine a spotlight on what's working and share the results. >> reporter: for the summit's third year nbc spread out across the country from california to illinois, this time to find stories of innovation in the classroom. >> it's good for a news division to stand for something and we think education is a broad subject matter that doesn't get nearly enough attention by the traditional news media. >> reporter: nbc news journalists will highlight the programs that work. >> we are talking to teachers. discussions on ways to expand them to other struggling communities. >> as a country we want to be able to scale solutions, but this is a start. >> reporter: with the presidential election jus

who can highlight the dire situation the public education is in here in the united states of america public education has a long and fruitful history in our nation its biggest proponent thomas jefferson who wrote the difficult ration of independence established the university of virginia for the sole purpose of giving the common man access to a good education it was free he was so proud of his accomplishment he made sure his tombstone said father of the university of virginia and it didn't even mention he was the third present a united states for two terms as jefferson said in eight hundred eighteen now let us see what the schools the president primary schools cost us on the supposition that all of the children of ten eleven and twelve years old are as they ought to be at school and if they are not so much the the work is the system for they will be untaught and their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us more dearer in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education but the work that jefferson did at the opening onset of america the opening years of this country and the work advocates of public educa

education. his district includes silicon valley, the birthplace of technology. mike has dedicated his life to public service and is lauded for his work on education, civil- rights nationalvice, immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues. >> he is also the greatest karaoke sing their -- singer and all of congress. -- in all of congress. [applause] >> he just told me i had five minutes. what do you think of this program? [applause] it is about time. i want to thank francis and fong. i think this is the very first statewide heritage month held with the mayor of san francisco. let me say something about heritage month in san francisco and your mayor. in the old days, you remember san francisco was known for passing all of these anti- chinese ordinances to limit the movement, the productivity of chinese in the city. we know two things. change happens. maybe the state of california is the state of golden opportunities, where we have a chinese-american mayor of san francisco. 35 years ago, congress members passed similar resolutions in both house and the senate to formally recognize the first 10 days of may as asian-pacific heritage week. one year later

. >>> and the new york public library has been transformed for this year's education nation summit, which involves big names in the education world, including the secretary of education, arne duncan, and former secretary of state, condoleeza rice, this is the second straight year and the need is great. americans are 14th in reading, 17th in science, 25th in math, among 34 countries at the top. this summit's focus is on solutions, one of the big topics today. how the curriculum in our schools is about to change in a big way. our chief education correspondent, rehema ellis is at the new york public library tonight. good evening, rehema. >> reporter: good evening, brian, the numbers you just mentioned tell a clear story, which is why the nation's governors adopted the common core curriculum. this new, tougher more demanding standard of learning is generating buzz at the summit, as teachers are gearing up to teach a new way. at this elementary school in louisville, all 361 students are encouraged to think big. >> every day at jba is one day closer to? >> college. >> college. >> reporter: rank

education. his district includes silicon valley, the birthplace of technology. mike has dedicated his life to public service and is lauded for his work on education, civil- rights nationalvice, immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues. >> he is also the greatest karaoke sing their -- singer and all of congress. -- in all of congress. [applause]

how it's now shaping the national debate on public education and why it could be turning into a court battle. >>> right now we give you a live look outside. kind of low-hanging clouds out there with that orange overhang on this monday. that is san jose. this is september 17th. this is "today in the bay." >>> a very good morning. it is 4:31 on the nose. i'm jon kelley and look who's back. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon, fresh off vacation. lots to get to this morning. we welcome rob mayeda in for christina loren. >> we're waking up this morning looking at some low clouds around san jose, and we do have a cooler forecast today. we're looking at 60s and 70s for most of the bay area today. only 80 in livermore, 75 in san jose. more clouds in the middle of the week which means if you're driving along highway 17, mike, you'll run into fog around the summit. >> you've been warned about the fog as well. a clear view of the bay bridge but no slowing except for that cash lane. this is a right lane blockage by a stalled vehicle just north of the 24 interchange, northbound side of 680 loses one lane

close the gap, the majority of it was cuts in education, which is a real shame when you think of wisconsin has one of the best public school systems in the nation and they're cutting their education budget back. >> by a small percentage. >> no, cutting a large part of it, a large part of the budget decrease. and cutting programs for poor people. >> if you look at the numbers, if you were a corporation, would you go to wisconsin or michigan? >> well, i think the answer is easy, it's wisconsin. you know, the left always thinks, you know, they always paint this picture like it's marlon brando and on the waterfront and the beleaguered workers, we must stand up for them. that hasn't been that way for 06 years now, maybe 70 years, for crying out loud. basically what michigan wants to do is mandate monopolies and it's funny because this country has been so anti-monopoly for so long. that's what a union is, it's a monopoly, artificially high wages for those lucky enough to get job. when the companies have to pay higher wages than normal they don't have enough to pay other people. at gm if the wages were half of what they were in the heyday, they would

national ramifications. but you notice the first thing mitt romney, who doesn't want to invest in public education, the first thing did is try to nationalize this issue and try to get president obama in there. president obama rightly said or his campaign rightly said this is a local issue that has to be solved at the negotiating table. one side does... one size does not fit all. but we do want to make sure that teachers are the best they can be. we want to make sure they get support. we want to make sure the kids get what they need so they can achieve their dreams. >> brown: randi weingarter, roy roamer, thanks both very much. >> thank you. for the record we invited mayor emmanuel to appear on the program this evening. his office did not respond to our request. >> ifill: next, how economic philosophy defines the presidential candidates' campaigns approach to health care. newshour economics correspondent paul solman has our story, part of his ongoing reporting on "making sense of financial news." >> i was actually on jury duty when i got a call from my husband and he said i have a brain tumor. >> reporter: tr

nationally. chicago was the birthplace of the neoliberal corporate top-10 education reform agenda. privatizing public education, closing and appetizing public neighborhood schools, high- stakes testing, paying teachers based on test scores. that whole agenda. chicago is now the epicenter of the fight back against it. what happens in chicago will really have an implication for whether we are able to turn back this national agenda. the eyes of the country are on chicago today. >> in a moment, we will be joined by professor pauline lipman, the first, phil cantor, a teacher at north grand high school, a strike captain at his school and part of the group "teachers for social justice." and rhoda rae gutierrez, the mother of two public-school students in chicago and a member of the grass-roots group "parents for teachers." explain what this is all about in the nation's third largest school district. >> we are striking for many reasons if you see what is in the mainstream media, all they talk about is that teachers want more money. but that is really far from the truth. we are fighting for reasonable class s