current events

Lawyers for Chicago Public Schools lost their case of a temporary restraining order which would have immediately ended the teachers strike. Judge Peter Flynn did not agree to hold a hearing on the matter today, instead suggesting the case be heard on Wednesday. But the judge questioned if the legal issues wouldn't be moot if the strike is over by then, according to Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the city's Law Department.

New Jersey’s plans for having a statewide teacher evaluation system in place by 2013-2014 goes full throttle this year, with every school district in the state being required to start putting the key pieces in place.

Officials say nine schools within the St. John the Baptist Parish (La.) School District reopened Monday with at least a 92 percent student attendance rate. District-wide attendance increased to almost 95 percent by Tuesday.

Emanuel's administration would close 80 to 120 public schools and open many charter schools, sources say

The first Chicago teacher strike in 25 years has both sides saying the fight is about assuring that classrooms are led by good educators. They just disagree sharply over how that should be done.

Police cars lined up along with school buses in front of Stemmers Run Middle School (Baltimore) on Wednesday morning, a day after an eighth-grader brought a loaded gun to the school. It was the second gun-related incident in Baltimore County schools in recent weeks

School districts across New Jersey have to figure out how they are going to evaluate their teachers — and fast. ... under a state law signed last month to make tenure harder to get and easier to lose for educators, districts need to find answers by the 2013-14 school year.

Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen merits praise for inclusively and thoroughly developing the state’s application for flexibility from certain elements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Michelle A. Rhee, the former schools chancellor in Washington, D.C., is now pushing education reform through her organization Students First— and continuing to annoy the teachers’ unions along the way.