Louisiana state schools Superintendent Cecil J. Picard is working to rebuild the New Orleans school system while battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Cecil J. Picard walks confidently and purposefully to his seat, using a cane to support his weakening right leg. The widow's peak and his graying hair are signs that he's lived 68 years, and the cane…

Thousands of children displaced by one of the most destructive natural disasters ever to strike the United States will be back in school soon, sometimes as far as 500 miles away from home. Whether their own schools are flooded in New Orleans or missing roofs in Biloxi, Mississippi, many students will find a spot in a classroom in the town where…

State and local officials are slowly untangling complicated webs of accountability, testing, and graduation policies, hoping to give thousands of students displaced by Hurricane Katrina a better handle on their academic standing. While officials in Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama offered some guidance to such students, school leaders in…