education

BREMERTON, Wash. - A classroom full of fourth-graders scrambled to their seats as teacher Scott Wisenburg announced it was time for a reading lesson.

Some reached straight for iPods and others hurriedly wrote down predictions about the text they were soon to read.

WICHITA FALLS, Texas - The gentle ministry of three little dogs has been life-changing for James Cowley, 7.

If it weren't for the school visits of the furry threesome with Puppy Love Reading Director Michelle Nester, James, a second-grader, might not be talking to his teachers or classmates.

American women have the ability and educational preparation to graduate from college with a science, technology, engineering or mathematics degree, but they are still underrepresented in so-called STEM undergraduate fields, according to a new survey.

Women, the survey says, "come to college poised for success but fail to graduate with STEM degrees."

When Barack Obama was elected president, millions of Americans believed that the United States finally was entering a post-racial period when race no longer mattered in any serious way. But the Obama presidency has, ironically, heightened racial tensions, and we are seeing old divisions return.

Cell phones may be part of the American teenage culture, but they aren't allowed in the places where students spend eight hours a day -- the classroom.

ANDERSON, S.C. - Some argue that they should be.

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2010 an estimated 75 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 17 now own cell phones, up from 45 percent in 2004.

Students who sat down Aug. 1 to take the Graduate Record Examination in 230 countries and regions worldwide were being tested in more ways than one.

Scott Robinson looks for the grossest, creepiest things, like stingers, fangs, and venom pores. Spider eyes are creepy at 300- to 20,000-fold magnification. And kids love creepy.

Pop quiz. Your high-schooler got an A in an advanced-placement course but a 2 (not passing) on the College Board exam.

Do you:

a. Wear a hat and sunglasses to the supermarket;

b. Lodge a complaint against that good-for-nothing teacher; or

c. Write another check to music camp like nothing happened?

Matt Diskin's students don't start their day sitting quietly at their desks. Shortly after walking into Room 22 at Grand Oaks Elementary School in Shasta Lake, Calif., they're on the move.

Thousands of students logged on to their computers Thursday to find out whether they got into the University of California, Berkeley. Most were disappointed -- even many with straight A's and enviable test scores.