Recount helps one university rise in the rankings

(AP) -- The University of Chicago boasts more than 70 Nobel laureates, and its math and economics departments are among the best in the world.

How your child learns

(Parenting) -- Stick with what works. That's what Judi Newell thought when she started talking about coins with her daughter, Fiona, 3. "A penny is brown and worth one cent," she began, pointing to a drawing of one in a book. "A nickel is worth five cents." This is how she'd taught her older daughter, Anna, 9, about money.

Parents should involve kids in back-to-school shopping

NEW YORK (AP) -- As the back-to-school shopping season returns, so does the annual tug of war between kids who want the trendiest clothes and parents who need to hold to a budget.

Teacher quality mandate remains big challenge for states

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Having missed one deadline already, states still face an enormous challenge in putting qualified teachers in all major classes, a federal review says.

Whole new universe challenges textbook writers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The idea that our nine-planet solar system may soon join the obsolete world of eight-track tapes and slide rules should send science teachers, textbook writers and toymakers back to the cosmic drawing board.

ACT scores highest since 1991

(AP) -- The high school class of 2006 posted the biggest score increase on the ACT college entrance exam in 20 years, and recorded the highest scores of any class since 1991.

Support for new high-school graduation tests waning

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After years of momentum, the drive to make students pass a test to graduate from high school has stalled -- and it's likely to stay that way, a private study contends.

Rules require three states to spend more in classrooms

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Linda Buffe can't imagine taking on another role at work.

Bush signs vocational education bill into law

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House announced Monday that President Bush has signed the Perkins Act, the first major update of the nation's vocational education law since 1998.

Who needs Harvard?

(Time.com) -- It's the summer before your senior year, and you're sweating.

Historically black colleges recruiting Hispanics

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Faced with stiff competition for their traditional students, historically black colleges are now making a push to recruit Hispanics.

States shirking order to distribute qualified teachers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most states have shirked the law by failing to ensure that poor and minority students get their fair share of qualified teachers, a new analysis contends.

Commission calls for changes in higher education

(AP) -- A national commission charged with plotting the future of American higher education approved its final recommendations Thursday, calling on the government to provide more aid based on financial need, while telling colleges to be more accountable for what students learn.

California charter schools accused of corruption

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- A chain of charter schools overcharged the state more than $57 million over three years, reimbursed its top executives for expensive SUVs and paid thousands of dollars for employee parties at Disneyland, a state audit released Wednesday found.

UC joins Google book project

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- The University of California has joined Google Inc.'s bid to scan the book collections of the world's great libraries, the organizations said Tuesday, marking renewed momentum for a project nearly derailed by stiff resistance from publishers.

Citadel cadets to get sexual harassment training

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- Cadets at The Citadel will be required to take training aimed at preventing sexual harassment and sexual assault, officials announced.

Some New Orleans schools open amid hope, confusion

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Carrying a weighted book sack on his shoulders, 12-year-old Jermaine Gibson wasn't complaining a bit about the first day of school in New Orleans on Monday.

9/11 conspiracy theorists energized

(AP) -- Kevin Barrett believes the U.S. government might have destroyed the World Trade Center. Steven Jones is researching what he calls evidence that the twin towers were brought down by explosives detonated inside them, not by hijacked airliners.

Students getting double dose of the three R's

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- High school student Frank Oakley received a double dose of math and English during his freshman year. He says an extra elective would have been nice, but the emphasis on the three R's helped him overcome his math fears.

Judge dismisses lawsuit by student punished for story

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a high school student who was suspended for writing about a dream in which a student shoots a math teacher.