Claudio Sanchez

Online college courses are attracting hundreds of thousands of students, and that's forcing colleges and policymakers to rethink higher education. The online courses may pose a serious challenge to the way institutions deliver a college education.

The state's school board wants to measure progress in math and reading differently for students based on race and ethnicity. Supporters say the new passing rates take into account students' different starting points. Critics charge the mandates are "backwards-looking."

Many Americans feel like paying for college seems out of reach. How big is the issue in the presidential campaign? The candidates have offered what boils down to this choice: Either the government spends more to help families pay for college or it spends less to save taxpayers money.

The union rank and file still must vote on whether to accept the contract hammered out between union leaders and city officials. And both sides will have some hard work ahead to repair the bad blood that erupted during the walkout.

Unions in Wisconsin challenged Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union policies and lost, while teachers successfully challenged similar laws in Ohio. But many of these policies are supported by President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other Democrats. And the American Federation of Teachers has been walking a fine line between advocating for reform and protecting traditional union positions.

The University of the People says it's the "world's first, tuition-free, online university," designed for poor students who would otherwise lack access to higher education. The institution has 1,300 students in 129 countries, but it's also struggling to maintain its "free" mission.

The University of Virginia's board of governors last month fired then rehired its president. One reason some board members called for her ouster was that she had not moved quickly enough to expand the university's online courses. On Tuesday, school officials plan to announce a partnership with Silicon Valley company Coursera that will do just that.

President Obama delivered his annual back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker High School, one of Washington, D.C.'s top performing schools.

Nearly 1 million kids who start high school every year don't make it to graduation. At a time when federal and state budgets are tight, dropouts costs taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue, health care, welfare and incarceration costs.

Parents and teachers often expect less of students who are the children of Dominican immigrants. This causes their grades and ambitions to suffer.