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Features the Andover boarding school in Massachusetts, Phillips Academy. When the school's classics-laden curriculum was expanded; Educators sought by Andover; One of the school's first innovators. INSET: Famous Andover Alumni of the 20th Century.

The article reports on the educational reformative steps taken by Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant during his tenure at the helm of the Boston public schools. In a field of revolving-door leaders, Thomas W. Payzant is the exception to the rule. Amid the rise and fall of superintendents in city after city, he has led the Boston Public Schools for nearly 11 years. He rolled out initiatives not all at once, but only when they made sense. The idea was to start small, test things out, and retool them. And he focused on building consensus. All were radical notions in an era of hard-charging, quick-turnaround leaders.

Reports crash course in education for prospective teachers in Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers. Basics of the program for classroom management, lesson planning and learning styles; Financial reward for the recruits; Responses to the program; Assessment on the participants' performances after the training.

The article focuses on issues related to the search of a successor to the outgoing superintendent of the Boston, Massachusetts school district, Thomas W. Payzant. Last week, with the aim of informing the transition, two prominent education policy groups released a study of the district's accomplishments under Mr. Payzant. With the same intent, more papers on his track record are in the works for a conference planned for June 2006. And later this week, a coalition of more than a dozen Boston community groups is set to hold a meeting to gather public comments to pass on to the search committee. Parents there will be urged to brine their concerns about the district to the finalists for the job once they're announced next month.

The article reports that a group of researchers was enlisted to take the tenure of school superintendent Thomas W. Payzant, who retired last month after more than a decade on the job, to help the Boston, Massachusetts district's next top administrator tackle its challenges. With $400,000 from the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested heavily in the Boston district under Payzant, the project produced papers assessing progress in six areas: human resources, leadership training, teaching and learning, use of data, high schools, and special education.

The school board of the Everett, Massachusetts, district gave a vote of confidence last week to its superintendent and another top district official after both individuals were indicted on charges stemming from a bid-rigging probe. All eight members of the school committee agreed on March 31 not to suspend either Superintendent Frederick F. Foresteire or Lona T. DeFeo, a district administrator who handles maintenance contracts. Prosecutors have alleged that Ms. DeFeo took part in a series of schemes in which the district awarded contracts to local companies without going through the proper bidding process.

Massachusetts education officials are reporting a record increase in student suspensions in the state. New figures from the state education department show that in the 2000-01 school year, Bay State schools meted out 1,621 student "exclusions." The new number, the most recent available, represents a 15 percent hike over the 1,412 exclusions reported the previous year and marks the highest figure since the state began collecting such information eight years ago. Education department officials point out that changes in state policy in the mid-1990s shifted the authority to expel students from school boards to principals in cases involving drugs, weapons, or assaults.

Reports on the plans of the Massachusetts government to offer $20,000 signing bonuses to teacher-candidates in education schools. Purpose of starting the bonus program; Number of institutions chosen for the program; Alternative plans to encourage teachers' education.

Presents news briefs related to schools in the U.S. as of December 12, 2001. Allegations against Massachusetts-based Springfield High School student Corey Ramos for murdering counselor and Pentecostal minister Theodore C. Brown; Grant provided to public schools in Boston, Massachusetts by the Annenberg Foundation; Exposure of Grand Ledge school students to mercury while doing a science experiment in Michigan.

Presents news briefs related to education in the United States, as of April 25, 2001. Strides made in integrating national science education standards into current editions of high school biology textbooks; Latin American school children's enrollment in advanced courses in Massachusetts; New Mexico teachers' success in their calls for improvements in state licenses issued by the state.

Reports that the graduate school of education at Harvard University in will ground its teacher education in urban experience. Provision of teaching students with more work experience in public school classrooms; Creation of a Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy; Coursework on public policies.

Provides information on several reports related to education in the United States. Analysis by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government on parent participation in the Cleveland, Ohio voucher program; Features of the report from Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights; Report from the National Center for Family Literacy about the support utilized by most successful family-literacy programs.

Reports that the Phillips Academy or Andover has arranged for thousands of items it had excavated in Pueblo of Pecos, New Mexico to be returned to the descendants of the American Indians who once lived in the pueblo. Significance of the academy's move; Information on the school's archaeology museum.

Reports on a $200 million capital campaign launched by Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Reason the school needs to raise more funds; Goal of the fund raising; Comparison to the fund raising drives of other schools; Reasons for the growing ambitions of schools.

Presents news briefs concerning teaching in the United States. Lawsuit of the Idaho Education Association against the payroll protection law; Details on a teacher testing in Massachusetts; Publication of a joint guide for candidates interested in state law assessments; Projects of the Technical Education Research Center's Center for Earth and Space Science Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reports that the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers recommends requiring teacher-candidates to complete a graduate program in education after earning a bachelor's degree in another major. State initiatives called for in the policy paper submitted by the union; Need to teach about religion; Move of the California Teachers Association to drop its opposition to peer review.

Reports on the performance rating of school principals in Massachusetts by Boston Superintendent Thomas Payzant. Performance evaluation as part of the state's curriculum reform; Review of curriculum reform recommendations; Comments from Payzant.