Few would quarrel with the goal of increasing parents' and families' engagement in education in the name of school improvement. But there is far less consensus on what that engagement should look like--and on how educators and policymakers should be promoting it. Those questions are evident in the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which…

It's hard to imagine two schools superficially more different from each other than Blackstone Elementary, with its labyrinthine 1970s layout, and Orchard Gardens K-8 School, which opened in 2003, with its modern skylights and cheery primary-color accents. But they were similar in the way that matters most in young lives: Both Boston schools were…

Even as they struggle to climb out of deep financial holes, states are facing lawsuits that contend they do not meet their constitutions' requirements to provide sufficient funding to districts and fail to provide resources for disadvantaged schools and student populations. This article reports on legal battles in Texas, Colorado, and elsewhere…

A settlement crafted last week seeking to curb the use of seniority as a factor in teacher layoffs in the Los Angeles school system could become one of the nation's most far-reaching overhauls of the "last hired, first fired" policies common in school districts. If approved by a judge, the settlement would shield up to 45 low-performing…

Talk of "turning around" troubled schools has become synonymous with firing educators, but a nonprofit organization in Chicago with a successful track record takes a different approach. In 2006, Strategic Learning Initiatives (SLI) signed a contract with the Chicago public schools to help 10 schools serving grades K-8. More than 95…

As principals come under more pressure than ever to improve underperforming schools, leadership experts say it's time for the nation to emphasize recruiting and training the next generation of school leaders. The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), and the National…

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that he plans to demand radical steps--such as firing most of a school's staff or converting it to a charter school--as the price of admission in directing $3.5 billion in new school improvement aid to the nation's 5,000 worst-performing schools. In sharp contrast to the current free-flowing nature of…

"About half of all new teachers leave the profession after just five years on the job." It is a neat and memorable statistic that has been repeatedly cited by news reporters, advocacy groups, union officials, and state education departments, among others. Trouble is, it is arguable and often used misleadingly. Richard M. Ingersoll, the University…

The U.S. secretary of education's call to "turn around" the nation's 5,000 worst-performing schools has found a warm welcome among educators and policymakers who see that focus as long overdue. But it has also sparked debate about how--and whether--such an enormous leadership and management challenge can be accomplished. Secretary of…

Policy experts are renewing questions about the role of school culture and leadership in the drive to improve teaching effectiveness in the most-challenging school environments. As states and districts increasingly explore tactics like performance-based pay, incentive programs, and bonuses to attract the best teachers to troubled schools, experts…

Two years ago, only 150 students attended Holabird Elementary, then a K-5 school in the southeastern corner of this city. Competition from charters and from regular public schools in nearby Baltimore County had drained families from Holabird, a chronic underperformer. So when Andres A. Alonso, the chief executive officer of the Baltimore city…

The school district in Anne Arundel County, Md., this spring entered into what appears to be a unique contract with the local teachers' union over struggling Annapolis High School: Teachers will work year-round and make a commitment to stay at the school for three years. Designed by Superintendent Kevin Maxwell to fend off a state takeover, the…

For all the debate over the effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind Act, researchers and policymakers say that, despite the law's flaws, it has successfully identified 1,200 public schools that need help, some of them desperately so. Now the question is: How can the federal law be changed to make sure such schools get that help? As Congress…

How many teachers stay, especially in the schools that need them most? The question has attracted widespread attention as policymakers have recognized that expert teaching is the most important school-related factor in student achievement. Data show that poor and minority students assigned to ineffective teachers lag significantly behind their…

This article reports on the "discussion draft" released on September 6, about a week after a preliminary proposal to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law's core Title I program was unveiled. Under the latest House proposal for reauthorizing the NCLB Act, the federal government would invest billions in improving the nation's…