News & Comment

Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, according to a recent Associated Press poll. more »

The cost of staples that make up the backbone of school meal programs has soared in the past year, far outstripping federal subsidies. While inflation has driven up the price of milk by 12 percent, cheese by 15 percent and bread by 17 percent, the National School Lunch Program has increased what it pays local school districts to feed 30.1 million schoolchildren by only 3 percent. more »

There was always something slightly insane about No Child Left Behind, the ambitious education law often described as the Bush administration's signature domestic achievement. Educators cited its unattainable goals for schools and unrealistic expectations of students. more »

Some of the nation's biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions, even as they continue to extend federally backed loans to students at the nation's top universities. more »

The Department of Education is preparing to exercise broad new powers in the coming weeks that could fundamentally recast how millions of students pay for college. This initiative could transform the federal government from a guarantor of student loans into the dominant provider, replacing the outside lenders to whom students and their families have long turned. more »

The federal No Child Left Behind law says that by the 2013-14 school year all students must pass state tests in these subjects. According to a recent study, about half of the states have steady annual goals for increasing the percentage of students passing, or working at their proper grade level. more »

Students enrolled in a $6 billion federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind law are not reading any better than those who don't participate, according to a U.S. government report. more »

Unable to push education fixes through Congress, the Bush administration is taking its own pen to the No Child Left Behind law. The Education Department plans to make a host of changes to the education law through regulations. Among the biggest changes is a requirement that by the 2012-13 school year, all states must calculate their high school graduation rates in a uniform way.

A recent study found urban schools in metropolitan areas surrounding 35 of the nation’s largest cities have lower graduation rates than schools in nearby suburban communities. Approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year–about 7,000 every school day, or one every 26 seconds. more »

The House, trying to avert a looming shortage in available student loans, approved a measure allowing the Department of Education to buy federally guaranteed loans that lenders are unable to sell to private investors. more »