Education | featured news

An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that hundreds of school systems nationwide exhibit suspicious test scores pointing to the possibility of cheating.

Aggressive efforts to prevent students such as Burke from dropping out contributed to a modest 3.5 percent increase nationally in the high school graduation rate from 2001 to 2009, according to research to be presented Monday at the Grad Nation summit in Washington. The event was organized by the children's advocacy group America's Promise Alliance.

Controversy is continuing to swirl around a 41-year-old Modesto teacher, who recently resigned his position, left his wife and moved in with an 18-year-old student. The Enochs High School teacher, James Hooker, is fighting back against allegations that he did something illegal as police investigate whether the relationship began before the girl turned 18.

An ongoing dispute erupted into violence at an alternative school in the South Deering neighborhood this morning, leaving a 17-year-old student dead, another teen wounded and a student in custody, authorities said.

The Supreme Court cast doubt Tuesday on the future of affirmative action at the nation’s colleges and universities, agreeing to hear an appeal from a white student in Texas who seeks an end to "racial preferences" in college admissions.

The one thing 14-year-old Moshe Kai Cavalin dislikes is being called a genius. All he did, after all, was enroll in college at age 8 and earn his first of two Associate of Arts degrees from East Los Angeles Community College in 2009 at age 11, graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Now, at 14, he's poised to graduate from UCLA this year. He's also just published an English edition of his first book, "We Can Do."

The Obama administration will free 10 states from the requirements of No Child Left Behind, responding to complaints from teachers and school administrators across the country that the nation’s main education law is outdated and punitive.

Martin Bernard Springer, a second-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in South Los Angeles, allegedly fondled two girls within the last three years. He has taught at the school since 1986. An elementary school in South Los Angeles was left reeling Friday after authorities arrested a second teacher accused of lewd acts with students.

Two Harvard researchers looked at the factors that actually improve student achievement and those that don’t. In a new paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Will Dobbie and Roland Freyer analyzed 35 charter schools, which generally have greater flexibility in terms of school structure and strategy. They found that traditionally emphasized factors such as class size made little difference, compared with some new criteria...

Susan Elmer juggles the many needs of her 15-year-old son, Timothy, who has lived most of his life with Asperger's syndrome, a condition considered on the spectrum of autism disorders. The telltale signs of Asperger's -- which include communication difficulties, obsession with narrow subjects and a difficulty picking up on certain social cues -- make crucial activities like learning in a school setting a challenge.