Paul Katula

A new Illinois law, signed by the governor yesterday, which is about 20 years overdue, will try to improve the quality of bilingual education in the state's schools by involving parents in the process. We have high hopes for the new law and hope that detractors of good bilingual education won't tear it down too much.

A report by a special investigator in Washington DC has found no evidence of widespread cheating on the district's standardized tests in 2010, but suspicions about one teacher held up. We have a few insights on the cheating scandals going around.

A fence built by District 709 in Morton will help to improve student safety near a busy street, and it may also allow more students to get higher levels of physical activity. This can't be bad.

District 7 (K-8) hopes to expand a home visit program, where a few teachers visited students and their families in their homes. Both students and teachers who participated in 2011-12 said the program was beneficial.

The StudentsFirst organization, which tries to get states to pass laws aimed at improving our schools, has produced an ad that many people have criticized. It has also spawned a few spoofs.