The closing of hundreds of U.S. schools in recent weeks because of concerns about swine flu underscores the need for administrators to make plans for continuing their students' education during any extended shutdown, emergency experts and federal officials say. Fears about a severe flu pandemic had eased as of late last week, but experts say…

Some two months after enactment of the federal economic-stimulus package, school facilities directors are still trying to piece together how much money will be available under the measure for school construction projects, what it can be used for, and when it can be accessed. Before President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery…

As Congress debates how to structure the next iteration of federal school accountability, a new national study has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of test-based incentives to improve education. A blue-ribbon committee of the National Academies' National Research Council undertook a nearly decade-long study of test-based incentive…

States that want newly offered relief from certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act are scrambling to satisfy an easily overlooked requirement that they "meaningfully" engage with teachers, unions, parents, and community organizations, and even modify their waiver proposals based on that input. Federal education officials warn…

The author reports on the "restart" option in the federal school turnaround program which offer new opportunities for charter school operators. Some of the nation's largest and best-known charter-management organizations have not jumped at the opportunity to "restart" schools with federal economic-stimulus money, but a wide range of smaller…

With effective teaching a top policy priority, certain school districts, the federal government, and nonprofit groups are renewing efforts to pilot and study strategies for pairing effective teachers with students in low-performing, high-poverty schools. The results could offer clues about how to rectify an imbalance in the distribution of the…

Although U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan ultimately decides which states get relief from key requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, a group of outside judges will wield tremendous influence in deciding states' fates. With states facing compliance deadlines under the law and Congress moving slowly on reauthorizing the Elementary and…

The author reports on House and Senate bills that take different stances toward funding formula-grant programs and Obama administration initiatives. Key education programs, including Title I grants for disadvantaged students and aid for special education, would get flat funding for the 2012 fiscal year under a measure approved Sept. 21 by the…

The author reports on how U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' opinions in youths'-rights cases reflect his "originalist" thinking. Justice Thomas, 63, marks two decades on the court Oct. 23, and a hallmark of his tenure is his willingness to carve out a solitary stance on certain issues. Particularly in cases involving schools…

This article reports on a higher education bill awaiting President Bush's signature which moves to increase accountability for programs that prepare teachers. It also refocuses the main federal funding source for education schools on collaborations between such schools and local K-12 districts to improve clinical teacher-training experiences and…

School administrators in California are getting greater flexibility in how they spend more than $300 million intended for instructional materials, along with encouragement to use some free digital textbooks for high school courses, as a result of cost-cutting measures brought on by the state's budget crisis. Extensive changes to the state's…

President Barack Obama's call for every state to require school attendance until age 18 may spark a flurry of action in some statehouses, but changing attendance laws will do little by itself to drive down the nation's dropout rates, experts on the issue say. In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama said states should require…

President-elect Barack Obama and his team started work this week on a transition that includes searching for the people who will bring to life his agenda of expanding preschool, improving the quality of teachers, and fixing the major federal law in K-12 education. Within 24 hours of his election, the Illinois Democrat assigned a team of campaign…

Dozens of schools are slated for aggressive interventions over the next three years under a new, multistate effort that aims to clear hurdles that have hindered previous attempts to improve underperforming schools. Education officials in Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and New York have agreed to partner with Mass Insight…

Congress plans to kick-start the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) this week with the first in a series of hearings in a key House committee, where members pledge a "bipartisan, open, and transparent" process in rewriting the version of the law enacted under President George W. Bush. The finish line…