Some of the students at Success Academy are doing International Baccalaureate-level work. Most of the classes have just five or six students. But this Baltimore public high school isn't for elite students. Admission depends on whether students have done something so serious a regular district school won't have them anymore: assaulting classmates…

To give students an incentive to work hard--and save education dollars along the way--some states are encouraging early high school graduation by ramping up curricula or giving college scholarships. As a money-saving measure for families and states, lawmakers are allowing early high school exits and providing tuition aid. The policies emphasize…

This article describes the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, at Teachers College, Columbia University. Launched last year by a pair of economists, the center specializes in calculating and comparing the long- and short-term costs--and probable payoffs--of different educational strategies that promise to improve students' lives. Studies…