Budget cuts are common in education, but nothing like the scale that schools have seen in the last two years. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls the current situation "the New Normal," meaning that schools will see increasing demands for performance in a climate of declining resources. Most of the literature suggests that schools cannot…

Surprisingly, the debate over +/- grade systems seems to occur, largely, at the college and university level. Few middle and high schools seem to have taken on the issue, at least in any way that appears in the public literature. Other opinions suggest that it is the discriminating quality of plus/minus grading systems that make them useful. A…

Impoverished populations and schools in rural areas face special challenges that are different from other settings. Among these are the distances from social services, the sparse availability of assistance programs, and the shortage of resources to support educational programs and student learning. Rural schools, do, however, have assets that can…