With scant research on the efficacy of social-networking tools such as Twitter, and few clear insights into the best (and worst) uses for them, there is little agreement among researchers and educators about how or whether Twitter-like technologies could or should be used in schools. This article discusses how teachers can use this popular…

In hiring Daniel A. Domenech, the directors of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) were looking for an advocate who could position the group in the front row of education policy debates in Washington. Domenech, who began his job as the executive director of the AASA in July, has battle scars from years spent in the…

A company that runs one of the nation's largest networks of online schools recently decided to discontinue a program that arranged for high school teachers in the United States to send their students' English essays to India for evaluations by reviewers there. The existence of the program by Herndon, Virginia-based K12 Inc. is an example of the…

In a move that could prompt major changes in the way states measure the achievement of English-language learners, the U.S. Department of Education is planning to tell states they must each use a consistent yardstick in determining when a child is fluent in English and when that child no longer needs special ELL services. A proposed…

Teachers' unions around the country have shifted into high gear in the countdown to the presidential election next week, and nowhere is the fervor more evident than in the battleground states. In Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, affiliates of the National Education Association and the…

As educators grapple with how best to combat plagiarism in the Internet age, several high school students are suing a company that many districts and schools have hired to help them reduce such cheating. The lawsuit alleges that the company is violating the high school students' rights under U.S. copyright law. The lawsuit was filed by four…

Historically, it has been tough to get teachers for urban districts, but this is not the case in Baltimore, Maryland, anymore. Since 2002, the New Teacher Project has been finding at least 10 applicants for each teaching job it fills for the once hard-to-staff Baltimore district. Armed with unorthodox recruitment strategies, the group targets…

In the past decade, Harrisonburg, Virginia, has become a magnet for immigrant families drawn to jobs in the poultry and construction industries. More than 1,600 of the school district's 4,400 students are English-learners. The largest group of newcomers are Latinos, followed by Kurdish and Russian refugees. In this article, the author discusses a…

Nearly four months after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to their hometown, Jonathan and Shelley Midura are packing up the family's van and heading back from this Washington suburb to New Orleans. They just have to figure out where their three children will go to school. In this article the family shares their thoughts and feelings on changing…

Experts have long suggested that re-establishing routines, particularly school routines, can be therapeutic for children who have experienced upheaval in their home lives. This article briefly describes an 8th grader's experience with this, after losing her home to Hurricane Katrina and having her life moved to suburban Washington.

A spate of deaths among young people around the country in the past year has brought further media attention to an asphyxial activity known as "the choking game." But the subject is a sensitive one for schools. Some administrators have actively enlisted in efforts to inform students and parents about the risks of practices like the…

This article reports the plan of the U.S. Department of Education to expand a pilot initiative that would flip the order of key consequences for schools' low academic performance under the No Child Left Behind Act. Building on an initiative piloted in Virginia for school year 2006-2007, participating districts could offer a choice of supplemental…

This article discusses an educational program in Virginia, wherein principals receive special training, additional compensation, and are eligible for a state credential as a "turnaround specialist." When the program was unveiled, some skeptics questioned its focus on individual leaders and quick results. Principals in the program say…

This article discusses legislative efforts to seek flexibility and to coax changes in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Even before U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings had been confirmed in her job on Inauguration Day, a few states had begun testing her pledge to work with them in carrying out the No Child Left Behind Act in a…

As education reformers turn to the vexing task of improving high schools, Norfolk's approach is worth noting. It is bettering its high schools in part by capitalizing on their academic departments--an aspect of secondary schools often derided as hidebound and a primary obstacle to improvement. This article discusses the efforts of Norfolk,…