For all the national and even international debate about the state of American education, public schooling in the U.S. is still a local matter--and the school district remains its hub. As administrators know, there's nothing abstract about the process of getting millions of students into their seats, assuring they receive the instruction they're…

President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton have both enacted significant expansions in federal oversight of K-12 schools during their terms. In the combined 15 years of the Clinton and Bush presidencies so far, the federal government has required states to set academic goals for their students and has made schools and districts…

In an attempt to respond to confusion about--or resistance to--the tutoring requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance outlining what it expects states and school districts to do in supplying the help to needy children. This nonregulatory guidance clarifies the roles of states and school…