Imagine if a computer could identify the weakest-link teachers a " the ones who should be told it's time to get out of the classroom.

It's not quite so simple, but a new policy in Houston allows teachers to be fired based on data that some experts say isolates a teacher's effect on his or her students' test-score gains.

Reform advocates say school districts should improve teacher quality in part by using such "value added" data. Dozens of districts, including Houston's, have already incorporated the concept into "pay for performance" systems. Education leaders in New York City and the District of Columbia are moving toward linking it to tenure or dismissals. But none has gone ahead as boldly as the Texas district.

Each year, thousands of Palm Beach County high school students skip college entrance exams and hurt their chances for higher education.

The dispute began innocently enough as a disagreement between parents over the menu at a masquerade ball for home-schooled teenagers.

ONE of the UK's most highly acclaimed theatres, The Donmar Warehouse, makes a very welcome return to the Hall for Cornwall with Serenading Louie from April 13-17. Friends since college, Carl and Alex are struggling to deal with the harsh realities of adulthood as they enter their 30s.

It's a rare phenomenon in the world of college admissions, unfamiliar even to many counselors who have been in the business for years.