SWITCH: Mobile | ePaper | Subscribe

Homes Rentals Jobs Autos Contests

Kimberly Hefling

Heather Coffy, right center, leaves the St. Monica School with her children, left to right, Delano Coffy, 15, Alanna Marshall, 8, and Darius Coffy, 11, in Indianapolis. Students like Delano are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable. He was failing in his neighborhood public elementary school in Indianapolis until his mother enrolled him in a Roman Catholic school. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

School vouchers prompt court fights in US

Last updated Monday, April 9, 2012 - 11:15am

WASHINGTON — Students like Delano Coffy are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable.

Education, Vouchers, National Read more Comments

In this photo taken March 14, 2012 South Hagerstown High School senior Alton Burke, 17, talks with student intervention specialist Heather Dixon, right, at the school in Hagerstown, Md. Burke, who dropped out of school during the fall semester, credits Dixon with bringing him back by repeatedly going to his house. He now studies full time, and takes evening classes four nights a week. (AP Photo/Kimberly Hefling)

U.S. high school grad rates up, Utah's down

Kimberly Hefling The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, March 19, 2012 - 9:31am

HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- The last straw for 17-year-old Alton Burke was a note left on his door. The high school dropout picked up the phone and re-enrolled at South Hagerstown High.

Burke missed roughly 200 days of class, but Heather Dixon, the student intervention specialist who left the note, never gave up on him.

Aggressive efforts to prevent students such as Burke from dropping out contributed to a modest 3.5 percentage point increase nationally in the high school graduation rate from 2001 to 2009, according to research presented Monday at the Grad Nation summit in Washington. The event was organized by the children's advocacy group America's Promise Alliance founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Education, Schools, High school, Research, Utah, National Read more Comments

President Barack Obama speaks about the "Community College to Career Fund" and his 2013 budget at Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama promotes job training at community college

Jim Kuhnhenn, Kimberly Hefling The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, February 13, 2012 - 6:07pm

ANNANDALE, Va. -- President Barack Obama called on Congress Monday to create an $8 billion fund to train community college students for high-growth industries, giving a financial incentive to schools whose graduates are getting jobs.

Education, Business, Federal budget, Job training, Jobs, President Obama Read more Comments

(PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/The Associated Press) Colorado Lt Gov. Joe Garcia, right, and New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera, take the stage for President Barack Obama’s remarks on No Child Left Behind reform, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

Most states to seek exception to education law

Kimberly Hefling The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, October 13, 2011 - 4:28pm

WASHINGTON — A majority of states intend to take President Barack Obama up on his offer to let them get around unpopular requirements in the “No Child Left Behind” education law, the Education Department said Thursday.

Education, No Child Left Behind, President Barack Obama, National Read more Comments

Female GIs struggle with higher rate of divorce

Kimberly Hefling, The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - 12:34pm

WASHINGTON -- Two failed marriages were the cost of war for Sgt. Jennifer Schobey.

The breaking point in her first marriage came when her husband deployed to Afghanistan, the last in a long line of separations they had endured as they juggled two military careers. Schobey married another combat veteran, but eventually that union failed under the weight of two cases of post-traumatic stress disorder -- his and hers. They are now getting divorced.

Separations. Injuries. Mental health issues. All are added weights to the normal strains of marriage.

For women in the military, there's a cold, hard reality: Their marriages are more than twice as likely to end in divorce as those of their male comrades -- and up to three times as likely for enlisted women. And military women get divorced at higher rates than their peers outside the military, while military men divorce at lower rates than their civilian peers.

Features, Marriage and Divorce, Military Read more Comments