2004 DECEMBER
Dec. 13, 2004

Military Recruiting in High Schools
Special Correspondent John Merrow reports on military recruiting in high schools.

  

NOVEMBER
Nov. 30, 2004

Changing Number of High School Dropouts
Special correspondent on education John Merrow reports from Florida on the changing numbers of high school dropouts.

Nov. 23, 2004

U.S. Schools Weigh Abstinence Education
Fred de Sam Lazaro of Twin Cities Public Television looks at the debate over abstinence-only sex education programs in schools.

  

Nov. 17, 2004

Margaret Spellings Nominated as Secretary of Education
Margaret Warner leads a discussion with two education policy experts, about the nomination of Margaret Spellings to replace Rod Paige as the secretary of education.

  

SEPTEMBER
Sept. 7, 2004

Scientists Call Air Pollution Global Problem
Air pollution is difficult to track and prevent because plumes of impurities that originate in one country can drift half a world away, ultimately affecting the climate and human health on different continents. Betty Ann Bowser looks at global efforts to overcome geopolitical hurdles in clearing the air.

  

AUGUST
Aug. 24, 2004

A Look at Whether Americans Are Reading Enough
Jeffrey Brown examines whether Americans are reading enough in a conversation with Dana Gioia, head of the National Endowment for the Arts.

  

Aug. 18, 2004

Study Finds Charter School Students Lag Behind Public School Counterparts
The American Federation of Teachers released an analysis this week of a Department of Education study, which found that fourth-grade students in public schools are more proficient in reading and math than their counterparts in privately run charter schools. Two experts give their perspective on the analysis.

  

Aug. 17, 2004

St. Louis School Experiments with Allowing Private Firm to Help Run Schools
The St. Louis School District turned to a New York firm for help after an audit revealed it was spending around 40 percent more than the national average per pupil and only 5 percent of its high-school juniors could read at a proficient level. John Merrow examines the experiment to allow a private firm to run its public schools.

  

JULY
July 19, 2004

Budget Cutbacks Cause Public Schools to Struggle
Decreased funding has caused many public schools across the nation to struggle to stay afloat. Spencer Michels reports on the detrimental effect budget cutbacks have on schools located in lower income areas in California.

  

JUNE
June 24, 2004

Students Stay Home
Graduate programs at several U.S. universities have seen a considerable decline in the number of applications from foreign students after stricter post-9/11 regulations for student visas were enforced. Betty Ann Bowser examines the impact at some Colorado universities.

June 22, 2004

Best and Brightest
What does it take to get into a top liberal arts college? Education correspondent John Merrow takes a behind-the-scenes look at the admissions process at Amherst College.

  

June 14, 2004

Supreme Court Watch
The Supreme Court refused to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting a California atheist's right to sue his daughter's school district because he does not have exclusive custody of the child. Margaret Warner discusses the decision with National Law Journal Washington bureau chief Marcia Coyle.

  

MAY
May 25, 2004

Gifted Education
John Merrow continues his series on the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act with a look at the law's effects on school programs for gifted students.

APRIL
April 20, 2004

Testing Matthew
President Bush's education initiative No Child Left Behind introduced standardized testing to all American classrooms. John Merrow looks at the impact of the act on students in special-education classes.

  

MARCH
March 15, 2004

No Child Left Behind
The Department of Education relaxed some of the new standards in the No Child Left Behind program Monday, as part of a series of steps to make the law more palatable in schoolrooms around the country. Gwen Ifill gets two perspectives on the relaxed rules.

  

FEBRUARY
Feb. 25, 2004

Supreme Court Watch
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that states may deny academic scholarships to divinity students. Gwen Ifill discusses the decision with Marcia Coyle, Washington bureau chief for the National Law Journal.

  

Feb. 25, 2004

Saving Black Colleges
Many of America's esteemed black colleges are increasingly running in the red. John Merrow looks at the financial crises at some of these historic institutions.

  

Feb. 6, 2004

Changing the Rules
A federal judge ruled that a 1990 NFL regulation requiring players to be out of high school for three years before they may join the league violates antitrust laws and "must be sacked." Ray Suarez gets reaction to ruling from sportswriter John Feinstein.

  

JANUARY
Jan. 8, 2004

Reading, Writing and Politics
President Bush's No Child Left Behind education reform act passed with broad bipartisan support two years ago, but today many Democrats say the bill has not delivered what it promised. Two experts debate the merits of the act.