"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) House Committee Approves $100 Million for Striving Readers: Smaller Learning Communities Cut by $72 Million; (2) "State Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act": New Report Finds Teacher Prep Is One of the Greatest Challenges; (3) Americans Speak on Public School Funding: Majority of Americans Say Schools in Poor Neighborhoods Are Either Inadequate or in Crisis; (4) The Talent Development High School Model: New Report Finds Substantial Gains in Course-Completion and Promotion Rates Among Ninth Graders; (5) Alliance Co-Hosts Summer Breakfast Series: Leaders in Education Discuss Successful High School Transformation and Increasing Graduation Rates; and (6) "Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap": New Book Points to Improving Literacy Skills Among Adolescents as a Way to Close the Gap.