JACKSON, Miss. — Another teenage lesbian is suing a Mississippi school district, this time over a policy banning females from wearing tuxedos in yearbook portraits. Ceara (SEE-ayr-uh) Sturgis' dispute with the Copiah (kuh-PY-uh) County School District started in 2009, before another lesbian student in another Mississippi school district fought to wear a tuxedo to prom and bring a same-sex date. The ...

Yesterday, the city of Chicago announced a pilot program to introduce extended school days at 15 elementary schools over the coming school year. In total, 90 minutes would be added in the form of 35 minutes of online reading courses, 35 minutes of online math courses, and 20 minutes of free time—for a grand total of 70 extra minutes of actual ...

Hollywood does a pretty good job of depicting the ideal teacher. Such an educator instantly connects with even the most struggling of students, seeing past his or her faults and quickly converting the student into valedictorian/doctor/Broadway star or general success of one's choice. Long hours and incredible patience are always involved. But if recent events up in Pennsylvania are any indication, ...

FEASTERVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a sensation by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out? As she fights to keep her job at Central Bucks East ...

President Obama unveiled his entire fiscal year 2012 budget yesterday at Parkville Middle School and Center of Technology in Baltimore, Maryland, and his proposed $77.4 billion in education spending—a 4 percent increase from 2010, the most recent budget enacted—bucks the national trend of defunding education. It's not a perfect budget, but Obama's committing to spending where it matters most: PELL grants, ...

ATLANTA — A failing Savannah high school is firing its entire staff in an effort to avoid further sanctions from the state and to make the school eligible for up to $6 million in federal money, officials said Thursday. The 200 employees at Beach High School — including the principal — will work there through the end of the year but ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque schools superintendent Winston Brooks says a $43 million budget shortfall is leading to severe cuts for next school year, including the possibility that 700 employees might be laid off. In addition, the district wouldn't fill about 500 empty positions, resulting in a cut of 1,200 employees — about 10 percent of the work force. Employee salaries and ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For a couple tight weeks after taking in her sixth-grade stepson, Lisa Lewis fretted about how to pay for his school lunches. Unable to find a full-time job, the 37-year-old works part-time at a Kansas City, Kan., daycare, earning minimum wage. On that money alone, she supports herself, her unemployed husband, her stepson and her 11th-grade son. ...

Many area school districts are sending pink slips now to prepare for 2010-11 budgets. Specific layoffs are listed below when possible, followed by a dollar value of total cuts, including programs. Arlington Heights School District 25 LAYOFFS: 6.5 teachers, 4.5 teaching assistants and 1 central office secretary for a savings of $464,300. Barrington School District 220 15.3 teachers; 2 custodians; 3 ...

ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Education has picked Delaware and Tennessee for the first round of its "Race to the Top" competition, giving part of an unprecedented $4.35 billion to the states, a source said on Monday. The states, selected from 16 finalists announced earlier this month, received hundreds of millions in grants designed to encourage the use of innovative ...

Eminem's acclaimed Super Bowl advertisement for Chrysler told the world that despite what you've heard, Detroit is making a comeback. Tell that to the city's children, because the State of Michigan has sounded the death knell for Detroit Public Schools. DPS's Emergency Financial Manager (EFM), Robert Bobb, has received approval for his plan to shut down half of the city's public ...

By all accounts, 38-year-old Tera Myers was an effective science teacher. During her four-year stint at Parkway North High School in Saint Louis, Missouri, Myers received favorable performance reviews from her principal and was well-liked by students, parents, and other staff members. But her teaching days at Parkway North are over after a student confronted her this week over a pornographic ...

I wrote several weeks ago (not in the newspaper) that education in Wisconsin was entering "unchartered" waters. Oops. For one thing, I meant "uncharted" waters. A mental slip. More important, the waters are, in reality, about to become increasingly chartered. Charter schools are in for major boosts, both in Milwaukee and statewide, if Republican proposals in the Legislature become law. In ...

It's official: Other nations are far better at educating their future citizens. Every three years, the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, is administered to 15-year-old students by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This year, high school students in Shanghai led the pack, with American students ranking average to below average by when compared to their global ...

CNN reports today on a rash of adolescent suicides in the Mumbai area tied to students cracking under intense academic pressure. Admission to top Indian colleges and universities, such as the Indian Institute of Technology, are based solely on the results of a single test, and children jump through a number of preparatory hoops in order to perform well on these ...

Black and Latino teachers are leaving the profession “in droves,” says Betty Achinstein, a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the co-author of Change(d) Agents: New Teachers of Color in Urban Schools. “Teachers of color” make up only 17 percent of the teaching force, despite the rising percentage of minority students, reports Miller-McCune. Schools are hiring more minority ...

Last year, the students in sophomore English at Northeast High School in Philadelphia had a famous teacher—Tony Danza. Yes, that Tony Danza, of television and the stage. Over the course of the school year he navigated Steinbeck, battled swine flu with sanitizer, and served as teacher, counselor, and coach. In short, Danza became “Mr. D” to students born two decades after ...

Could you survive for a week without your smartphone, your iPod, or your new Michael Jackson Experience video game? If not, trust me, I understand. I'm ashamed to admit that my BlackBerry sleeps under my pillow. However, a classroom of suburban Chicago sixth graders managed to give up all the gadgets and technology that make our modern world go around, and ...

I'll admit it, I'm a Gleek. I love the Fox show, Glee. I've taken the Facebook quiz (and learned I am most like Rachel). I posted last fall's Single Ladies/football scene to my FB page, I loved the Les Miz nod, and even looked forward to the Lady Gaga homage. I even have a running list of those songs and/or performers ...

If you didn't watch the entire State of the Union address you may have missed President Obama's remarks about K-12 education. The education portion of the transcript is pasted below, but I'd like to make some highlights. Education starts at home with parents Race to the Top the most important ed initiative in a generation Teachers need and deserve more respect ...