A New Leader Helps Heal Atlanta Schools, Scarred by Scandal

"By last spring, Gov. Nathan Deal and Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta knew they had to find someone to clean up the mess. They asked Erroll B. Davis Jr. to become the new superintendent when Dr. Hall left at the end of June."

Troubled Kid Becomes Principal

"'I'm an assistant principal at the school that expelled me. I left 15 years ago in a police car,' he said about the day he pointed a toy gun at another driver who turned out to be an off-duty police officer."

Punishments Handed Down in Atlanta School Cheating Scandal

"Three administrators in the public school system here have had their certificates revoked as punishment for changing answers on students standardized tests. Georgia's Professional Standards Commission issued punishments Thursday to 11 educators implicated in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. Eight teachers received a two-year suspension of their teaching certificates."

The Secrets of a Principal Who Makes Things Work

Article discussing "Jacqui Getz, 51, the new principal of Public School 126, a high-poverty school in Chinatown."

West Virginia Learns Finland's 'Most Honorable Profession': Teacher

"When newly minted West Virginia Schools Superintendent Dr. Steven Paine told parents, teachers and educators in 2005 that he wanted to use Finland as a model for their education system, he got a lot of blank stares. . ."

School Superintendent Gives Up $800,000 in Pay

"Powell's generosity is more than just a gesture in a region with some of the nation's highest rates of unemployment. As he prepares for retirement, he wants to ensure that his pet projects survive California budget cuts."

Probe Finds Cheating by Educators in Atlanta School District

"Special state investigators have uncovered a decade of organized, systemic cheating in the Atlantic school district by scores of educators, including 38 principals, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports."

U.S. Plan to Replace Principals Hits Snag: Who Will Step In?

"The aggressive $4 billion program begun by the Obama administration in 2009 to radically transform the country’s worst schools included, as its centerpiece, a plan to install new principals to overhaul most of the failing schools. That policy decision, though, ran into a difficult reality: there simply were not enough qualified principals-in-waiting to take over."

Who Is Best Qualified to Run a School System?

"What kind of credentials do you need to run a school district? Especially a really big one? Is a degree in education a better predictor of a superintendent's success than, say, a track record of turning around distressed companies? These are hot questions in the education world right now. . ."

Evaluating School Leaders

"School leaders have a multiplier effect — they can put in place conditions that help or hamstring effective teaching."

Higher-Education and School Leaders Meet to Work on Common Goals

"An association of state higher-education executives and one of school leaders met with each other for the first time last week, to try to get beyond finger pointing and find ways to improve student performance."

Principal Succession in a Fast-Growing District

"As Delaware's fastest-growing school system, Appoquinimink has learned firsthand the necessity of succession planning. With about 500 additional pupils enrolling each year, the school district since 2004 has constructed two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. . ."

The CEO Educator

"New York City education chief Joel Klein talks about improving inner-city schools, competing globally, and how Jack Welch helps him groom his leadership team."

The Principal's Pathway to the Superintendency

Leadership article from Principal Magazine

Number of Students Leaving School Early Continues to Increase, Study Says

"Almost six years after a lawsuit forced the city to pledge to keep better track of students who leave public schools without graduating, the number leaving high schools has continued to climb, according to a report to be released Thursday by the public advocate’s office. The report raises questions about why more than 20 percent of students from the class of 2007 were discharged — the term for students who leave the school system without graduating — but 17.5 percent from the class of 2000 were. Much of the increase has come from students who are discharged in the ninth grade, which has gone up to 7.5 percent for the class of 2007, but was 3.8 percent in 2000."

A 'Tsunami' of Boomer Teacher Retirements is on the Horizon

"More than half the nation's teachers are Baby Boomers ages 50 and older and eligible for retirement over the next decade, a report says today. It warns that a retirement "tsunami" could rob schools of valuable experience. The report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future calls for school administrators to take immediate action to lower attrition rates and establish programs that pass along valuable information from teaching veterans to new teachers."

Statistics: School Enrollment in the U.S. 2006

Statistics: School Enrollment in the U.S. 2006. Note that statistics for previous years are also available.

The National Center for Education Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics, located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. (Refdesk.com)