A lot of what we do here is focused on one question: How can America's public education system produce better outcomes for the most disadvantaged youngsters? We focus on early education because we think the evidence is pretty compelling that dramatically improving the way we educate our youngest children--from infancy through early elementary school--has to be the starting point of any reasonable answer to that question.

In a new book, Changing the Odds for Children at Risk, former Assistant Secretary of Education Susan Neuman surveys a number of educational interventions that evidence suggests are effective at improving outcomes for our most disadvantaged youngsters. Neuman will be speaking about the book at New American on Monday, December 1, and discussing her ideas with AEI scholar Doug Besharov, who's also researched and written extensively on early education and care programs for disadvantaged children. If you're looking for something to jolt you out of your turkey-induced stupor and ease you back into the work week, this is the ticket.

For more information, or to register for the event, click here. A webcast of the event should also be available at that link the day after the event.

Fannie Mae found itself on the front pages once again this week with the news that it lost $29 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Scarier still, Fannie's net worth, which was $44 billion at the end of 2007, now stands at a paltry $9.4 billion.

It has been over two months since Fannie and Freddie were seized by Federal regulators and put into conservatorship. Many of us are wondering, simply, what has happened since? Have they been more active in dealing with the continuing struggles in the housing market? Are regulators upbeat about the future of the mortgage giants?

On Thursday, November 13th from 3:30 pm to 5pm, the Asset Building program looks to find some answers to these questions. We are pleased to welcome Jim Lockhart, Director and Chairman of the Oversight Board, Federal Housing Finance Agency-- the entity that is overseeing Fannie and Freddie-- to discuss this pressing topic. Joining him will be Barry Zigas (Director of Housing Policy, Consumer Federation of America), Gregory Baer (Deputy General Counsel, Regulatory and Public Policy, Bank of America), Ellen Seidman (Director, Financial Services Policy, Asset Building Program), and Maya MacGuineas (President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and Director, Fiscal Policy Program, New America Foundation).

We hope you join us for what certainly will be a lively and informative discussion. Click here to RSVP.

We want to encourage our readers to attend our big event next Wednesday, July 23, titled "Making Medicare Sustainable: Transforming Our Health Program for America's Seniors." It will be hosted by Len Nichols, Director of New America's Health Policy Program and Robert Berenson, MD, Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute. (Dr. Berenson has also guest blogged for us in the past.)

This day-long event will be the launching pad for our Medicare Reform Project. As you've probably heard us (and others) discuss, rising health care costs and retiring baby boomers will make improving and sustaining Medicare a salient issue during the next president's first term. To respond to these challenges, Medicare needs to become a smarter purchaser (and wiser utilizer) of health care. How can that happen?

The event will focus on recently commissioned policy papers that offer solutions for making Medicare more affordable and sustainable. Drs. Nichols and Berenson will be joined by top academics, including nationally recognized physicians, economists, legislators, as well as leading policy experts from across the ideological spectrum.