at-risk

Despite efforts by both parties to paint President Obama and Governor Romney as opposites, there is at least one policy area they agree on — the need to bolster our education system and expand the use of charter schools.

The East Aurora School Board voted Friday to rescind a policy on transgender students passed just five days before. The policy aimed to protect transgender and gender-nonconforming students’ right to privacy, and would have asked teachers to respect students' pronoun and name choices.

A two year-old overhaul of city special education programs has produced disappointing results, a new analysis shows.

Only about 13% of Hispanic 25- to 29-year-olds complete at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 39% for whites in the same age group and 53% for Asians, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Two Milwaukee, Wis. schools, Atonement Lutheran School and Carmen High School of Science and Technology, which are making gains with a largely low-income or minority student population, have been recognized for offering a high-quality education.

Organizers of The Children's Hunger Project in Brevard County, Fla., employ a very basic strategy to provide food for low-income elementary students. "We have a nine-word business plan: 'See a hungry kid. Buy food. Feed the kid.' And we keep the operation that simple," co-founder Bob Barnes said.

The Oakland Unified School District and the U.S. Department of Education agreed last week to allow for at least five years of federal monitoring as the district attempts to reduce the disproportionately high black student suspension rate, the Los Angeles Times reports.

During his sophomore year, Jose Avalos was urged by a principal to drop out of high school. The next year, his brother was told to do the same after entering the 10th grade. A third Avalos brother shared the same fate in 2009.

One of the nation's biggest challenges in education is how to improve persistently low-achieving schools. The movie Won't Back Down - filmed in Pittsburgh and released Friday - gives one answer: Let parents and teachers take over the school if it is failing to educate students.