Enrollment in the Baltimore City Public Schools system has increased for the first time in nearly 40 years at a point when many urban school districts are struggling to compete with the allure of private and suburban schools.

Andres Alonso, the school system's chief executive officer, says Baltimore City has about 82,000 students enrolled this year, 750 students more than last year. Though Alonso will not know the exact number until his estimates are certified by the state a few weeks from now, he says he is certain of an increase, however big or small. He attributes reversing the regular, steady enrollment declines of 2,500 to 3,000 students a year to the growing variety of school choice options available to parents.

No one yet knows who President-elect Barack Obama will appoint as U.S. secretary of education. But what's clear is that his choice will have an array of challenges to confront. Besides improving access to early-childhood education programs and making college more affordable, two of Obama's campaign promises, the next education secretary must fix the unpopular No Child Left Behind Act, which Congress has not reauthorized. The United States also faces growing competition from countries that are churning out more students who can compete globally. If Obama is serious about improving education, his choice for education secretary must be someone who can tackle all these challenges at once. That may mean breaking with tradition and appointing someone who not only has a background in elementary and secondary schools but brings something new and different to the table.

So far, Obama has not offered any names. But education policy experts have named several possible contenders. Tell us who would be a strong pick and who we may have missed.

Where will the Obama girls go to school? Will Michelle and Barack Obama choose private or public? What statement will their choice make? These are some of the questions on the minds of many Washington observers after the news that Michelle Obama visited a private school in D.C this week.

In town with her husband, President-elect Barack Obama, for a White House meeting with President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, Michelle Obama took the opportunity to visit Georgetown Day School. The Washington Post, quoting anonymous sources, says the Obamas are considering several other private schools as well, including Sidwell Friends, the Quaker school that Chelsea Clinton attended when Bill Clinton was in the White House. The Post's education columnist, Jay Mathews, is betting on Georgetown Day School as the Obamas' likely choice. Mathews says this is fitting on two fronts: Georgetown Day School was the first racially integrated school in D.C., and it is similar to the academically rigorous University of Chicago Laboratory Schools that Malia, a fifth grader, and Sasha, a second grader, currently attend. Several key Obama advisers send their children there.

The New York City Department of Education must be doing some introspection after a recent analysis by the New York Times highlighted the racial imbalance that persists at the city's elite public high schools. According to the newspaper, black and Hispanic students remain underrepresented at the city's best high schools, including Stuyvesant High School and the Bronx High School of Science, two schools that U.S. News recognized as gold medal schools last year. (U.S. News will publish new high school rankings in December.)

The lack of racial diversity continues to be a problem for these schools, despite their efforts in recent years to increase the enrollment of underrepresented minority students. New York City public schools serve 1.1 million students; about 40 percent are Hispanic, 32 percent are black, 14 percent are Asian, and 14 percent are white. Yet, the Times reports, Asian students make up more than two thirds of Stuyvesant High School's 3,247 student body, up from 48 percent in 1999. At the Bronx High School of Science, there are 2,809 students, but only 4 percent or 114 are black.

It is not clear what more education officials plan to do to address the enrollment disparities. In recent years, they have tried to do more outreach and expanded a program that helps students prepare for the test that determines admission to the top high schools. While students who attend the test-prep program are more likely to pass the test, the participation and performance of black and Hispanic students remain low.

"I'm not ever happy when I see a low percentage of those students participating in schools that are high rigor," the city's deputy mayor told the Times. "It's important for the halls of Stuyvesant, the halls of the Bronx High School of Science, to be reflective of the city itself."

California schools are ground zero for a debate over a controversial ballot initiative that would amend the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage. In recent weeks, conservative and religious groups have blanketed the state with television ads urging families to vote in favor of the initiative, warning that if the measure is defeated, children would be taught about gay marriage in schools. Opponents of the measure have called the group's ad campaign misleading.

One of the most-discussed ads features a girl coming home from school and showing her mother a picture book about a prince who married another prince and the girl declaring that she wants to marry a princess. And earlier this month, when a group of San Francisco first graders made a trip to City Hall to witness a lesbian couple's wedding ceremony (with permission from their parents), the measure's supporters seized on the story.

Child safety concerns could prompt some school districts across the nation to cancel classes and keep students away from voters on Election Day.

The measures schools use to monitor visitors might be difficult to enforce November 4 when thousands of voters descend upon polls located at their community schools.

The Chicago School Board will vote this month on whether to create a high school for gay youth, many of whom experience abuse in their current schools.

If approved, the School for Social Justice-Pride Campus would become the nation's third gay-friendly high school (joining New York's Harvey Milk and Milwaukee's Alliance). Proposed Pride Campus Principal Chad Weiden says the school will be open to all genders and orientations and will not ask students to identify either at the door. He says statistics show a need for such a school. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that 86.2 percent of gay youth were verbally harassed in the past year and 22.1 percent were victims of physical assaults at school.

GLSEN Director and Founder Kevin Jennings says gay high schools are necessary to ensure gay students get the diplomas they deserve. "The fact is these kids are not making it through school, and we have to make sure they do while also making sure that every school is safe for every kid," Jennings says.

College Board, the owner of the SAT, is introducing a new standardized test next fall for students in the eighth grade. Like the PSAT for 10th graders, the new test, known as ReadiStep, will gauge the skills of eighth graders in mathematics, critical reading, and writing. The College Board says the scores won't be used for admissions or merit aid decisions. Only students and their schools will receive the results. The goal, officials say, is to provide feedback to school districts that want to prepare more students for college before they reach high school. "What makes this assessment valuable and not just another test is its instructional relevance," Lee Jones, a vice president of College Board, said this week in announcing the new test.

The National Center for Fair & Opening Testing, which is generally opposed to standardized testing, released a statement calling the new test "a cynical marketing ploy designed to enhance test-maker revenues, not improve access to higher education." Eighth graders already take statewide assessments that determine how well they have mastered math, reading, and writing skills. Robert Schaeffer, the center's public education director, questioned the value of another test. "The new exam will only accelerate the college admissions 'arms race' and push it down onto even younger children," he said.

College Board officials emphasized that school districts asked for the assessment. They also said the test is tied to rigorous national standards, so the results would offer a more reliable picture of students' abilities than state tests. "We feel confident enough from talking to College Board member institutions that they are excited about the test," Jones said, although he would not name or identify how many school districts asked the agency to develop such a test. College Board says it expects school districts, not students, to pay for the exams, although the exam fee has not been set yet. The two-hour, multiple-choice tests will be offered to students during a two-week window in the fall or the spring. Teachers, who will proctor the exams, will receive the results in four weeks.

Higher costs have forced school districts nationwide to raise meal prices and cut field trips. Now teachers are falling victim to the weak economy. Some 375 public school teachers lost their jobs in Dallas last week. District leaders argued that they had no choice but to lay off teachers, along with hundreds of other school employees—more than 1,000 in all—to help stave off a projected $84 million budget shortfall.

The Dallas Morning News has video of elementary school students crying uncontrollably over teachers who were fired. The layoffs, which most people in the district knew were coming, still caught some teachers by surprise. One high school teacher says he was summoned out of class, fired, and then sent back to pack his belongings as his students watched. In addition to initiating layoffs, the district is shifting some 475 teachers among the different schools.

It's not yet clear how the massive reorganization will affect students. For now, the focus is on the teachers; the district has hastily organized a job fair to help its laid-off employees find work. One school district in the greater Las Vegas area has expressed interest; it needs nearly 400 teachers. "Simply stated, hallelujah," the head of the largest teacher association in Dallas told the paper when asked about the prospect of work in Las Vegas.

When high school teacher Sarah Roach takes attendance, she routinely notices that she has more students in her classroom than the number who are technically enrolled in Latin courses she teaches. They're not lost or sneaking into her classroom to visit friends. The extra half-dozen students are coming for the Latin.

Roach, 54, has taught Latin at Highland School in Warrenton, Va., for 25 years and has seen interest in the ancient language grow steadily throughout her tenure. When she first began, Roach taught a few students in a single class. Now she teaches 80 students, in classes geared toward a range of skill levels.