No Child Left Behind and the Every Student Succeeds Act have made accountability central to conversations about education policy. But neither statute articulates a clear vision of what constitutes "quality" or "equity" in education, nor do they include a mechanism to ensure that schools have sufficient resources to pursue that…

Summarizes 2 state initiatives to address the achievement gap: North Carolina's report by the Advisory Commission on Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps, containing an 11-point strategy, and Kentucky's legislation putting in place 10 specific processes. The North Carolina report is available at www.dpi.state.nc.us.closingthegap; Kentucky's…

Plenty of state policies have been noteworthy in 2004, but one that had major impact went into effect in Illinois, where the governance of education was significantly restructured. S.B. 3000 (the Education Reform and Accountability Act of 2004) gives the governor greater influence over education through his or her control of the state board of…

Discusses basis for Kentucky appellate court decision that state's no-pass, no-drive statute did not violate due-process and equal-protection clauses of the Kentucky and federal constitutions, but did violate the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, but nevertheless did not invalidate the statute. Explains why the decision is…