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School closures have become a hot-button topic across the country, as parents, students, and community members are rising up to protest such actions by their local governments. States like Illinois and New York have all experienced recent confrontations over this issue, as they have struggled to balance budgets and increase the quality of education to the students in their areas. Do closures of underperforming schools really improve the performance of students in those areas? We’ll take a closer look at two of the districts facing this difficult question, as well as research that may question this method as a means of raising the bar on education standards.

This video reports on proposed school closures in Columbus, Ohio.

Chicago Parents Question Closure Decisions

New Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has faced a serious education crisis since taking his office earlier this year. According to numbers from Catalyst Chicago that were reported in Progress Illinois, 140 of the 675 Chicago ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓýs are eligible to be shut down, based on a three-level metric that rests largely on the Illinois Scholastic Assessment Test results. All of the schools on the list were situated in communities largely populated by minority students, which further complicated the issue.

Parents rose up quickly to form a community organization that provided alternatives to closing down schools in their neighborhoods. The agenda, titled, “A Neighborhood’s Agenda for Schools,� included recommendations like hiring and training

The current academic year is now in full swing, but for some Detroit ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓýs, overcrowding issues are showing no signs of waning. Last week, an elementary school in the district was cited by the fire marshal for a jam-packed classroom. Parents and teachers, as well as the teachersâ€� union for the district, are complaining that district officials are simply not listening to their concerns, and classroom sizes are not changing fast enough to facilitate a safe, positive learning environment.

This report from WXYZ states that "parents are complaining about shocking overcrowding in Detroit schools that has kids sitting on milk crates."

Violations Found at Nolan Elementary

reported last week on a parent of a kindergarten student at Nolan Elementary, Kristol Philpot, who complained that her son was in a classroom with 55 other students. When her concerns went unheeded by the school’s principal, Philpot contacted fire officials about the problem.

“There are completely way too many children in there,� Philpot told the News. “It’s a completely unsafe environment there and they can’t learn. There are 56 children and it’s steadily growing.�

Philpot said she called the fire department because the principal wouldn’t answer her questions on when a new teacher would be brought in to divide the class.

“With the class that size, if there is a hazardous smoke or fire, it’s unsafe for the children. There

The school bus has been a popular mode of transportation for students of all ages for generations - so much so that a week every year has been set aside to focus on the safety of these big yellow vehicles. School Bus Safety Week kicked off this month across the country, and many school districts got into action with school assemblies, events, and reminders to students, drivers, and motorists to keep students safe while they are on the road. We’ll take a look at a few of the school bus events taking place nationwide and a few facts about school buses that you may not know.

The History of School Bus Safety Week

The first School Bus Safety Week was established in 1963 for the state of California, according to the West County Transportation Agency website. The creator of that event, Dick Fischer, took his cause national by 1970, distributing a flyer of information to state directors of transportation across the country. The movement slowly gained momentum until hundreds of school districts from coast to coast began celebrating this week by emphasizing school bus safety for drivers, students, parents, and other motorists sharing the road with these bright buses. Today, the movement is coordinated by the National Transportation Association and the National Association for Pupil Transportation, and it is held the third week in October each year.

A national poster contest is held each year to allow students nationwide to submit designs for the annual promotional poster

The ongoing Atlanta ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓýs cheating scandal that has taken months to investigate is now in the punishment phase. Both teachers and administrators involved in the widespread cheating throughout the city are learning their fate, as the first batch of sanctions was handed out by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Those first sanctions may set the pace for how the state deals with similar cases of cheating and unprofessional conduct in the future.

Teachers Suspended, Licenses Revoked

According to a report at WTVM , the first batch of 11 educators implicated in the cheating scandal received their punishment from a vote by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission last week. The vote resulted in a two-year suspension of the teaching certificates of the eight teachers included in the group. The three administrators had their certificates revoked.

The punishments are considered rather stiff, particularly in light of the fact that this first batch of educators cooperated fully with investigators, which led to information that will move cases forward against additional individuals within the school system. Gerald Griggs, an attorney representing two of the teachers from Parks Middle School, said his clients were hoping for lesser penalties as a result of their cooperation.

“They felt pressure from the top,� Griggs explained to WTVM. “It was a culture that was going on. They were implicated in making erasures and changing test scores. My two clients that were implicated had admitted it and were being cooperative with authorities.�

When asked

There are few topics as fiercely debated in the world of education today as school choice and voucher programs. The subject becomes particularly prevalent in areas where public schools are not making the grade but has also been seen in districts where the public schools are performing well. However, parents want more opportunities and choices for their children. No matter what side of the fence a parent or educator might be on, chances are the emotions surrounding this topic run high. We’ll take a closer look at the school choice idea, including the history of the programs and the pros and cons that make this issue one of the hot-button subjects around the country.

Which School to Choose?

One reason school choice has become a major point of contention is because there are many options in education today. Districts offer a wide range of school types, and parents are faced with choices they may not have had just a few decades earlier. Some of the schools seen in communities today include:

Neighborhood ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓýs

Public schools are funded by the government and must follow specific guidelines set forth by state regulators. They are accessible to all children and are close to homes in the neighborhood, making them easy for children to attend. District zoning regulations typically assign schools, although some districts allow students to attend another public school outside their immediate neighborhood if there is sufficient space in the school for that student.

Charter Schools

Charter