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Five candidates running for three Portland School Board seats made their cases to voters on Wednesday, staking out their positions on issues such as standardized testing and how to tackle the achievement gap.

Kent School District (KSD) and Renton Technical College recently signed a ground breaking agreement that allows KSD high school students to earn certifications and initial degrees in the medical field along with their high school diploma upon graduation from high school.

Linda S. Lane will retain her position as superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools for another three years. The district's Board of Directors this month entered into a new three-year agreement with Lane, effective through June 2016.

The city's School Committee has awarded an unprecedented five-year contract to incoming school superintendent Jason "Jake" McCandless. By a 6-1 vote, with Daniel C. Elias opposed, the school board on Wednesday agreed to the long-term deal -- with a starting annual salary of $157,000 -- because it felt McCandless has shown he will be committed to the local school system. Traditionally, the city school board has hired superintendents three years at a time.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt appointed Mary Cullinane chief content officer and executive vice president of corporate affairs. Charged with spearheading the company’s content development strategy for the K12 education market and consumer audiences, Mary will expand her current role to drive HMH’s content production and innovation efforts, developing the next generation of digital solutions.

The Madison school board appointed an Avon principal Tuesday to become the district's next assistant superintendent, Madison Patch reports. Pine Grove School Principal Gail Dahling-Hench is leaving the Avon post she's served for six years to replace current Madison Assistant Superintendent Anita Rutlin, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

With student debt growing and a mismatch between unemployed Americans' skills and the required expertise for available jobs, vocational education could be gaining steam, and high schools are rethinking whether they should usher students toward something other than traditional colleges.

Frank Rocco, who has been serving this year as interim principal of Kalamazoo's Woodward School for Technology and Research, has been named the school's permanent principal. Woodward is a K5 magnet school.

Carnegie Mellon University and one of the government’s top spy agencies want to interest high school students in a game of computer hacking. Their goal with “Toaster Wars” is to cultivate the nation’s next generation of cyber warriors in offensive and defensive strategies. The free, online “high school hacking competition,” open to grades 6-12, is scheduled to run from April 26 to May 6.