I have touched Billy Connolly's coattails with the best of them so I know what it is like to have a brush with stardom. This brief encounter with the Big Yin's coat of many colours happened the night before the opening his new exhibition, Born on a Rainy Day, opened at Glasgow's Castle Fine Art gallery.

By John-Paul Holden

IN pre-lockdown days I had a much-ridiculed addiction. Using Snapchat Maps online, I would click all over the map to see the ‘stories’ of random people I didn’t know in all corners of the world.

IN the years BC (Before Covid), my morning routine was consistent. First, perusal of the paper, starting with the sport followed by the death notices. Continued absence from the latter represented a pretty good start to the day. Omnipresent coronavirus has reversed that order. Now, my first port of call is the ever-expanding family notices. Worryingly, for a man in his eighth decade, the deaths section lengthens daily. Equally concerning, is my proximity to the average age of those whose demise

MY after work walk on Wednesday was a zig zag, following the sun as she headed west.

IT was impossible to escape a heart-sinking feeling this week when reading reports that a senior UK Government source believed people were “addicted” to the furlough scheme.

Rocker’s bum note

THE most recent onslaught on Scotland’s farmed salmon industry has come from The Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust, who commissioned a report from Salmon & Trout Conservation Scotland claiming that the value of farmed salmon to the Scottish economy, and the number of people it employs, are both massively overestimated by a staggering 251%. The success of Scotland’s aquaculture industry and its employment of large numbers in remote, rural parts, has always rankled with the industry’s crit

GLUMNESS settles on a large part of the nation whenever the subject of comedy comes up now. The lockdown has led to a more frenetic search for entertainment, and the current state of humour hasn’t wanted for critics. This week, Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson, 80, said it was dire, and listed several comedians, adding: “They should be done under the Trade Description Act.”

Congressional Republicans and Democrats are at work on competing proposals to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Use our interactive explorer to take a deeper dive into each proposal.

The measure was not on the Majority Leader's weekly schedule for action, but sources said it could be called to the floor as early as Wednesday.

The bipartisan proposal to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act may take up a week or more of the Senate's time.

Lopsided votes in the U.S. Senate and House obscure stark differences in their bills to overhaul the outdated Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan may only have eighteen months left in office—but they're critical months when it comes to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The pending departure of Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the speaker of the House seems to have lit a fire under negotiations on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Part two of Marc Tucker's suggestions to state leaders as ESEA reauthorization swings responsibility for standards and accountability systems back to the states.

Click here for late stage draft of the actual bill that could become the latest iteration of the ESEA, the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA.

The new Netflix series "House of Cards" features a ruthless congressman as he spearheads the renewal of a fantasy Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Yesterday, the House passed the Student Success Act, but there's still a ways to go before a final bill. Here's a checklist for a final bill to "fix" NCLB.

The first season of the Netflix political potboiler was rich with education-policy plotlines, and we're hoping for more of the same.

What is continuous improvement and why are schools and districts jumping on that bandwagon?

A group of prominent researchers on English-learners is forcefully challenging the findings of a recent working paper that posits that 3rd grade retention was a benefit to struggling English-learners in Florida.

High school teacher Kateryna Haggerty explains how visual aids in her classroom help her English-language learner students write more confidently.

New research suggests that English-language-learner classification has a "direct and negative effect on teachers' perceptions of students' academic skills."

"I will forever be grateful for the opportunity and privilege I have been given to serve my country and its learners," Viana wrote in an email to supporters this week.

English-language-learner families are less likely to attend parent-teacher conferences and other school-related events, which means they miss out on important opportunities to communicate about their children's academic progress.

Education Week's top English-language learner stories on 2019 explored who's teaching the nation's English-learners and the struggles those educators encounter on the job, how the Trump administration's immigration policies affected students and their families and examined why more schools in the Un

José Viana led the office of English-language acquisition since April 2017. The Education Department has not announced a successor.

Mandarin Chinese, French, German, and Vietnamese are also among five most-offered types of dual-language programs, a new federal report shows.

Few teachers reported assigning English-learners to use digital learning resources outside of class, in part because of concerns about students' lack of access to technology at home, finds a U.S. Department of Education survey.

Rooting out teacher bias and focusing on family engagement are some of the steps schools can take to identify more English-language learners for gifted and talented education.

The number of English-learner students in U.S. schools has increased 28 percent since 2000; 43 of 50 states have experienced an uptick in enrollment, federal data indicate.

In five northern U.S. states, black students comprise more than a fifth of ELL enrollment.

But the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was not unanimous in its support of the findings that students of color were not more likely to commit discipline-worthy offenses.

Most teachers say that school discipline is inconsistent or inadequate, a new study from the Fordham Institute finds.

Race—but not whether a student is enrolled in special education—appears to be a driver of disproportionate suspension rates, finds a new study in the Journal of School Psychology.

Being suspended or expelled from school is more likely to lead students to use drugs later as adolescents or young adults than being arrested, according to a new longitudinal study in the journal Justice Quarterly.

As black-white achievement gaps widen in schools, so, too, do disparities in discipline rates between black and white students, according to a study published Wednesday of 2,000 schools.

A federal appeals court panel in St. Louis rules that a police officer did not violate the rights of a 7-year-old when he handcuffed the student for 20 minutes.

Discrimination based on race and disability demands our attention—and action, writes Catherine E. Lhamon, the chair of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

American adults favor supportive student-discipline solutions, like school climate efforts and training for teachers, over stricter practices like detentions or suspensions, a new survey finds.

In schools that use corporal punishment, students with disabilities and black students are disproportionately more likely to be hit than their peers, finds a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Student misbehavior and discipline is a major source of friction between principals and teachers. Veteran educators share how they build consensus around discipline in their schools.

The 2020 school counselor of the year draws on her previous experience as a counselor for gang members in a prison to reform discipline in her school in an Atlanta suburb. She shares her insights in this Q&A with Education Week.

A state court ruled that Virginia must turn over growth data by school and classroom teacher, without redacting the teachers' names.

Two high-powered N.Y. officials have put out a blueprint for overhauling teaching in the state, aiming for more-coherent policies for the profession.

Are you smarter than a teacher in 1966? Take this real test, taken from the "Equality of Educational Opportunity" report, to find out how you fare.

The Houston school district has settled a federal lawsuit brought by the teacher's union over the school system's controversial teacher evaluation system, which involved a secret algorithm.