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The Bush Institute has been focused this week on accountability and recognizing that every student matters. The Washington Post had a recent...

The Bush Institute has been focused this week on accountability and recognizing that every student matters. The Washington Post had a recent editorial on the importance of annual assessments to ensure all students are on a path to success. “Schools need to know whether students are learning, and they should do something about it when they aren’t. Writing that principle into law was a civil rights achievement that must not be undone,” the editorial board writes.

Michael Kirby writes this week in The Guardian that media attention over the reliability of defector testimony has become a welcome distraction for the North Korean regime and its documented crimes against humanity. Kirby, who served as chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in North Korea, talked with the Bush Institute last fall about the UN report and the need for the international community to stay engaged.

The New York Times featured an interesting essay recently about the assimilation of immigrants in Los Angeles. This is part of the North America challenge – as North America creates a more seamless flow of labor, it is important that immigrants be able to become part of the larger mainstream.  Living in parallel cultures hinders their mobility and undermines the ideal of “E Pluribus Unum.”

The Los Angeles Times had a fascinating piece earlier this month on the first lady of Afghanistan and her recent role in the public eye, an uncommon and nearly unprecedented move for a first lady in the country. It’s an interesting story to watch and a good reminder that first ladies around the world have a unique platform and significant role to play in addressing pressing issues in their home countries.