Education – PBS NewsHour

Since the Taliban was ousted from power 14 years ago, Afghanistan's government has taken steps to improve the status of women, including in education. NewsHour's Megan Thompson reports.

Five years ago, Gov. Chris Christie, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and former Mayor Cory Booker launched an ambitious plan to remake Newark’s schools by creating a network of charter schools that would operate almost like a business -- a model they hoped could be adopted nationally. William Brangham speaks to Dale Russakoff about her new book, “The Prize,” which chronicles the reform efforts.

In Seattle, protest against the Common Core test is catching on. Meet one high school teacher who has led a boycott against standardized tests as educational assessment, and who educates his students on their right to opt out. Gwen Ifill reports.

In the rural West Virginia county of McDowell County, almost half of all children live apart from their parents. Families have splintered in the face of economic and social troubles, leaving many grandparents to take on the role of parenting. Special correspondent John Tulenko of Learning Matters visits to see how public schools are supporting these caretakers to improve kids’ lives.

Boredom can mean trouble and bad health for children in rural America. In communities where resources are few, schools face the extra challenge of keeping students active, safe and healthy. Special correspondent John Tulenko of Learning Matters reports from McDowell County, West Virginia, on efforts there to improve life for students and to address the teacher shortage.

As Congress considers revisions to the No Child Left Behind education law, there’s a larger debate about the role and efficacy of using standardized tests as assessment. Anya Kamenetz, author of “The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing, But You Don't Have To Be,” joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the evolving role of testing and the “big, unintended consequences.”

Students at Oakland’s Life Academy are getting a head start on health science careers by integrating academics with career-based training and a workplace environment. The high school, which serves low-income and minority students, also has the city’s second highest rate of graduates who go on to college. The NewsHour’s April Brown reports on making the benefits of learning clear to students.

A newly released report by the Southern Education Foundation says the majority of all public school students across the United States come from low-income families. Experts say that could have important implications for the nation's education policies. Washington Post reporter Lyndsey Layton joins Hari Sreenivasan from Washington to discuss the issue.

President Obama’s plan to make the first two years of community college free could help up to 9 million students and add educated employees to the workforce. But it would cost the federal government billions and would have to pass a GOP-controlled Congress. Hari Sreenivasan gets reaction to the proposal from Andrew Kelly of American Enterprise Institute and Josh Wyner of the Aspen Institute.

An overhaul of the GED to meet Common Core standards has made the high school equivalency test more rigorous and more expensive. As a result, fewer people are taking and passing it. Gwen Ifill gets debate from Randy Trask of the GED Testing Service and Lecester Johnson of Academy of Hope about what the changes mean.

Ever since a surge of unaccompanied minors crossed the U.S. border last year, many California schools have seen a flood of undocumented teens. Special correspondent Spencer Michels reports on how one school is learning to adapt to their new students and how Obama’s immigration announcement may change education systems nationwide.

A contest sponsored by PBS Newshour Extra and Google asked students to create a digital mash-up looking back at 2014. Judy Woodruff talks with three high schoolers who entered the #MyZeitgeist competition about deciding what events made their year-in-review videos and how their generation gets its news.

In 2008, a set of academic standards for U.S. public schools called the Common Core was created for states to voluntarily implement. Intended to raise the bar for American students and teachers, many states that originally signed on are now rewriting the standards or opting out altogether. Special correspondent John Tulenko of Learning Matters reports.

There are no lectures allowed at San Francisco’s Minerva Schools, an innovative college with a curriculum specifically designed to improve knowledge retention for students. Professors hold their seminar-style classes online, allowing Minerva students to move around the globe each semester, from Berlin to Buenos Aires. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.

A group of high school students in Maryland aren’t just playing with fire -- they are gathering and studying the data as well. The NewsHour’s April Brown reports on a fire science class at the University of Maryland for local high schoolers, in which students burn Christmas trees and other objects, and use their physics and chemistry skills to measure the results.