As peer reviewers for the U.S. Department of Education begin to comb through the thousands of pages of applications for $4 billion in federal Race to the Top Fund grants, they'll be under pressure to determine which are most worthy of funding: those that promise the most, or those with the best chance of delivering. In a competition whose criteria…

Teachers' unions in at least two states are threatening to withhold endorsements of their states' Race to the Top applications, which could jeopardize the states' chances of winning the coveted federal dollars. In a letter printed as an advertisement in the Tallahassee Democrat, Florida Education Association President Andy J. Ford discouraged…

This year's edition of "Diplomas Count"--a report by "Education Week" and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center--examines the status of state P-16 councils and whether they can help smooth the road for young people on their way to productive work and citizenship. It also includes graduation rates by U.S. congressional district so…

"Quality Counts 2007" begins to track state efforts to create seamless education systems from early childhood to the world of work. This special issue of "Education Week" includes the following articles: (1) Improving Children's Chances (Lynn Olson); (2) Spanning a Lifetime (Christopher B. Swanson); (3) Breaking the Cycle of Poverty (Lynn Olson);…

A national commission formed to review the future of the 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has recommended that the nation's primary barometer of student performance should expand dramatically to provide mandatory state results on the achievement of 12th graders and to measure their readiness for college, employment,…