A major strand in the current national push to improve secondary education is the movement to scale down schools into smaller, more personalized units, especially for students facing the greatest obstacles to success. Hundreds of small schools and learning communities have cropped up in recent years, famously helped along by the Bill & Melinda…

In a field of revolving-door leaders, Thomas W. Payzant is the exception to the rule. Amid the rise and fall of superintendents in city after city, he has led the Boston Public Schools for nearly 11 years. Now, as he prepares to retire, the district offers a rare glimpse of what is possible with stable leadership in urban education. It is a story…

The state of Ohio wants to take charter schools to a whole new level: colleges of education. The state department of education is seeking to establish teacher-preparation schools that are free from state regulations so long as they produce high-quality teachers--a variation on the concept that has led to the creation of more than 3,000 K-12…