On Tuesday, September 8, President Obama will be delivering a national address to America's high school students on the importance of education, challenging them to work hard, set goals and take responsibility for getting the best education they can. We'd encourage you to watch the speech as well, if you can; it will be aired live on C-SPAN, and will also stream live and be archived for later viewing on the White House's streaming video site.

The link above also offers a link to discuss the speech on Facebook; in addition, the Department of Education is offering tools for both teachers and students in conjunction with the President's address and the start of school. Teachers in grades Pre-K - 6 and 7 - 12 can download classroom activities at the Department of Education Web site. And students are encouraged to respond to the President's speech with a video of their own: check out the I Am What I Learn competition homepage. Details will be posted next week, but we can tell you now that students 13 and older who make a video in response to President Obama's challenge will be entered in a nationwide contest to pick a favorite.

If you're reading this, we know you care about educating our nation's youth, and we'd encourage you to watch, discuss and respond on Tuesday.