The Maryland legislature's success in blocking a state takeover of low-performing schools in Baltimore under the No Child Left Behind Act raises the prospect of political resistance in other states that might attempt such intervention. While no other state has yet invoked the federal law to take control of a school, the experience in Maryland…

In this article, the author talks about the Shays-Farrell race as one of three closely watched contests in Connecticut that could help determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections November 7. U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican, and Diane Farrell, a Democratic, are the candidates for the state's 4th…

Utah state Representative Margaret Dayton adored President Bush. Her conservative politics lined up with his. One of her favorite memories was being at an intimate gathering and hearing the president echo her top priorities, God, family, and country. However, Dayton had drove one of Bush's biggest education-relation headaches. Dayton led a…

Faced with a conflict between state and federal laws, Texas officials have come down on the side of their own law and set up a possible showdown with the U.S. government over millions of dollars in education aid. In determining which schools and districts were meeting annual goals under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the state last February…

A nationally watched showdown between the U.S. Department of Education and Utah state officials over the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act came down to a cliffhanger in the last days of the legislative session when a final vote on a bill that calls for state education laws to take priority over the federal law was postponed. The feud…

In this article, the author discusses that Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. is pledging to sign a bill that puts Utah education policy ahead of the No Child Left Behind Act. State education officials now hope to make the case to the U.S. Department of Education that Utah should not be penalized for failing to comply with the federal law. The…

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…