In a bid to help more students read proficiently in 3rd grade--a skill considered critical to their future educational success--new laws and initiatives springing up around the country require educators to step up their efforts to identify and help struggling readers even before they enter kindergarten. It's not unusual for states or school…

Federal regulations have opened a door that allows schools to get credit under the No Child Left Behind Act for students who take longer than four years to earn a high school diploma. That option worries some education advocates, who fear it could relieve valuable pressure on high schools to graduate students on time. Under the law's…

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, poor children in persistently failing schools are entitled to receive free tutoring on the government's dime. But two years after the law was signed, only a small portion of the students eligible for those services are receiving them. The supplemental-services requirements have prompted more than 1,000…