The author reports on the largest-ever federal investment in fixing low-achieving schools that is now flowing to states, raising the pressure on district leaders to make tough--and quick--decisions about firing principals, replacing teachers, or shutting down schools entirely. Since March, the U.S. Department of Education has been sending states…

When 16 finalists come to Washington next week to make their final pitches in the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, most can expect to go home empty-handed. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in announcing the finalists last week, said that no more than $2 billion will be divided among "very few winners" when the awards are…

Arlene C. Ackerman, who took the helm of Philadelphia's public schools a little more than a year ago, is pushing for changes that would upend how teachers are paid and assigned to schools. The veteran urban superintendent is battling tradition in the 167,000-student system, but insists that increasing the effectiveness of the city's nearly 10,700…

Michelle A. Rhee, the chancellor of the public schools in Washington D.C. since June 2007, has become a favorite of the school reform set due to her bold efforts to remake the public schools in the nation's capital. For Rhee, exposing mismanagement, incompetence, and wide disparities in teaching quality has been a deliberate tactic as she builds…

Maryland became the first state to use its authority under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to seize control of failing schools, as the state board of education this week ordered new management at 11 middle and high schools in Baltimore. Nancy S. Grasmick, Maryland's superintendent of schools, led the push to take over four high schools and to…