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Online learning is our present and our future, or so many school reformers and entrepreneurs say. Here in the first of a few pieces on the subject is Larry Cuban, a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His new book is "Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice: Change without Reform in American Education." This post appeared on his blog.

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Where did tornadoes and severe flooding occur on Friday?    

How well do you think your first name suits you? Why?    

Can you calculate the approximate share of the expected budget surplus per resident of California?    

From Page 101 of "Cognition: From Memory to Creativity," by Robert S. Weisberg and Lauretta M. Reeves:

Rote repetition can result in some information being retained, although it is not a particularly effective method of encoding information into memory.

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Seven years ago, when I first wrote about Paula Lazor’s teenage son ,John, his future was uncertain. My headline read: “Bright, But Falls Asleep in Class.”

Educators at both public and private schools had helped him for years with his learning disabilities. But homework was still torture and he had trouble following what teachers said. The nodding off in class had begun in eighth grade.

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See what you know about the news of the day.    

This word has appeared in six New York Times articles in the past year.    

A new state system will include teachers of subjects that are not typically evaluated.    

Students in air-conditioned classrooms have an unfair advantage over roasting peers.    

After the Maryland General Assembly approved legislation to overhaul the Prince George’s County public schools two months ago, residents were left wondering what changes would be in store for the 123,000-student system.

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Steve Stuban visits his wife and son at Arlington National Cemetery about once a week. They are buried there together, in Section 64, grave plot 2301.

He lost his son in 2011, when the 15-year-old committed suicide amid the fallout of a serious discipline infraction that upended the teenager’s life at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax County.

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When Divesh Rizal laced up his roller skates during Senior Fun Day, the next few moments would speak volumes about the young man’s perseverance and determination.

“It was clear he had never been on skates before, but that didn’t matter,” said Marsha Williams, Rizal’s counselor at Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County. “He didn’t care that he fell. He kept on going. Then the kids were cheering. But that speaks to who Divesh is. He doesn’t give up.”

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Does "the great majority" of Americans really support the Common Core? How do we know? Here's a piece on the subject from P.L. Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina. He edited the 2013 book "Becoming and Being a Teacher," and wrote the 2012 book, "Ignoring Poverty in the U.S.: The Corporate Takeover of Public Education." This was published on @the chalk face.

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Here is a new piece from award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York. Burris was named New York's 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010, tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is the co-author of the New York Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers by student test scores. It has been signed by more than 1,535 New York principals and more than 6,500 teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens. You can read the letter by clicking here.

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While newly minted university graduates face a tight job market, skilled vocational school graduates are in high demand.    

Millions of young people are seeking hands-on instruction in market-friendly skills. Private academies offering short, practical courses are filling the gap left by formal colleges and universities.    

The system, in which teachers will be rated in part on their students’ test scores, brought New York City in compliance with state law.    

After August, Texas’ curriculum support system, known as Cscope, will no longer be a source of lesson plans for the 875 school districts that rely on it.    

More than 80 University of Virginia faculty signed a letter last week that called upon school leaders to promptly respond to what they called “false and injurious” remarks made by major donor Paul Tudor Jones on campus this spring about the lack of women at the highest levels of trading.

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