"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Standard Response: Senate HELP Committee Chairman and Top Republican Agree that Standards Movement Needs to Be Led by States, Not Federal Government; (2) The Case for Common Standards: New Profiles from the Alliance for Excellent Education Examine Need for (and Potential of) Common Standards and Assessments; and (3) Poor Economy Continues to Disproportionately Affect High School Dropouts: BLS Finds that Over 55 Percent of Recent High School Dropouts Are Unemployed. (Contains 1 footnote.)