Politics. On Point.

President Obama met with Faith and Civil Rights leaders Thursday at the White House where the group discussed issues important to the African American community. Attendees included Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Attorney Benjamin Crump of the National Bar Association and members of Black Lives Matter. Representative John Lewis and civil rights activist C.T. Vivian, who received a  Presidential Medal of Freedom  from President Obama in 2013, also attended the meeting. The president said the group discussed criminal justice reform, the work of grassroots organizations like Black Lives Matter, and creating a schools-to-college-to-jobs-pipeline in an effort to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline. (Today, the administration launched two campaigns, in partnership with MBK , to address and eliminate chronic student absenteeism).   After their meeting with the president a few attendees met with reporters along the White House driveway. Reverend Al Sharpton of The...

**Updated** On Thursday, July 29th, at the National Urban League Centennial Conference in Washington, DC, President Obama delivered a major education reform speech emphasizing how his signature Race to the Top program and other initiatives are driving education reform across the country and focusing the nation on the goal of preparing students for college and careers. The president made a promise to the National Urban League that if he became President he would deliver an address at the organizations Centennial Conference. The President highlighted the unprecedented support for and adoption of common standards by a majority of states already, and the Administration’s commitment to develop the next generation of high-quality assessments bench marked to common standards. "Instead of Washington imposing standards from the top down, let’s challenge states to adopt common standards voluntarily, from the bottom up. That doesn’t mean more standards; it means higher standards, be...