The types of skills required to care for and advocate for oneself and others—self-regulation, responsibility, empathy and discipline—are becoming increasingly central to the work of schools and teachers. More and more, educators are recognizing that these skills are inextricably intertwined with the academic skills.

Utah schools would no longer get a letter grade each year for performance—a system that has been largely criticized for relying too much on test scores and accounting too little for diversity—under a bill that gained committee approval. The measure to do away with the controversial A through F grades.

Friend School District filed a lawsuit last week because officials want to learn who is behind a Twitter account that has been criticizing the Nebraska school district, its superintendent and other school officials since last fall. The district's lawyer said the site has made false and defamatory statements.