The District of Columbia Mayor, Anthony A. Williams, is not alone among big-city mayors in extending a growing interest in public education to charter schools. This article discusses big-city mayors that have launched initiatives to form more of the independently run, but publicly financed schools. The notion of creating charter schools that…

The national push to address the rising problem of childhood obesity is especially relevant for students with disabilities, because experts say such students are more likely to be obese than their peers without disabilities. Despite the progress that has been made over the years to address the needs of children with disabilities, the vast majority…

In this article, the author reports how the "highly qualified" provision of the No Child Left Behind Act affected middle-grades teachers far more than teachers at the elementary and high school levels. Under the federal law, teachers beyond the elementary grades who were in the classroom two years ago may show their knowledge of academic…

In this article, the author describes how the "weighted student" funding, under which money is divvied up based on the actual number and kinds of students at each school, gains favor among education leaders. With weighted-student funding, a district divides up money--rather than staff positions and programs--among schools. Proponents…

This article discusses the continuing growth of student participation in the Advanced Placement program and how schools increasingly recast the program as being within reach of any student willing to do the work, regardless of academic standing. The Advanced Placement program was established in 1955 to give high-achieving students access to…

This article presents a New York city after-school program started by MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education), a national nonprofit group that teaches students how to fix computers, and equips them with the communication and problem-solving skills to help them in the working world. The MOUSE program is part of a trend…

It is a principle that many teachers have come to trust, from the first time their classes filled test tubes with yeast and loaded mini-volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar, when it comes to science, students learn best by doing, not just sitting and listening. However, some researchers and educators have challenged the argument for hands-on…

This article deals with President Bush's plan to push for expanded accountability in high school. President Bush will enter his second term with a range of campaign plans on education, from expanded testing demands to new cash awards for effective teachers, only some of which are likely to become law. One thing is clear, the controversial No Child…

Educators often say that what young people learn at home about behavior and how to view themselves has a lot to do with how well they do in school. The Mesa, Arizona school district opened Parent University 18 years ago as a place where adults could discuss and hone parenting skills. It goes further than many other districts to help parents who…

In this article, the author features the America's Choice School Design, a school improvement program that has enlisted 547 schools in 16 states in its brand of comprehensive reform, and describes the program's move to loosen its nonprofit moorings and change to a for-profit company. The purpose of the move to for-profit status is to raise capital…

This article reports how "value-added" measures that track the "value" that schools add to individual students' learning over time are increasingly popular with educators and policymakers. Some view the methods as an antidote to accountability systems that focus solely on getting children to a specified achievement level on a state test,…

At a time when many states are poised to roll out new standardized tests to evaluate English-language proficiency in unprecedented depth, California is balking at carrying out a federal requirement to test the literacy of young children who are learning English. Recently, the California board of education decided to ask the U.S. Department of…

A new generation of study programs worldwide is examining the links between brain science and children's learning problems and skills. One of its aims is to help bridge the gap between the laboratory and the classroom. Thus, by bringing multiple academic fields to bear in studying the brain, scientists hope to fashion cutting-edge research…

Most of the off-the-shelf mathematics programs used in middle schools across the United States have little or no rigorous evidence attesting to their effectiveness. The U.S. Department of Education analysis based on a review of studies undergirding 44 math programs used in grades 6-9, including some of the nation's most popular textbooks for those…

When the Tobin Bridge was built in 1950, splitting Chelsea in half and leveling homes in its wake, middle-class families began leaving for greener pastures. The "Iron Monster" became a symbol of the city's decline. By the 1980s, Chelsea was grappling with a familiar litany of urban ills. Only half its students were graduating from high…