For much of the last two decades, beginning with the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002, the top political leaders have shown concern about children stuck in failing public schools. NCLB required districts to do something -- not enough, but something -- about those schools. Millions of children still languish in low-performing schools,…

This article reports that special interest groups opposed to charter schools and high-stakes testing have hijacked Massachusetts's once-independent board of education and stand poised to water down the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests and the accountability system they support. President Barack Obama and Massachusetts…

For a decade, Ashland school district required the 70 average for athletes--a higher threshold than the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association standard that many of the state's schools follow. That standard has no minimum GPA, merely requiring that students do not flunk more than one major subject during a marking period. Parents began…