Claudio Sanchez

Four years after the No Child Left Behind Act became law, test results show progress in some areas. But many schools are not reducing the achievement gap between white and minority students, and closing that gap may take longer than the law's requirements.

If Mayor Villaraigosa ends up running the Los Angeles public school system, he can draw on the experiences of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Claudio Sanchez reports on what has happened in the Chicago and New York City school districts under mayoral control.

Nearly four years after the No Child Left Behind Act took effect, the nation's urban school districts are making only slight progress in raising test scores, and no progress in reducing the achievement gap between white and minority students.

Hurricane Katrina dealt a knockout blow to New Orleans' public schools, which were already in poor condition. Now, city officials are tasked with rebuilding schools, or handing over many to private ownership.

New reports from the Pew Hispanic Center conclude that low-income Latino students are the most segregated, ill-served group in the country's public high schools. The reports detail high school conditions for Hispanic students in the United States.

Public schools in New Orleans were devastated, as were the region's Catholic schools. And the Baton Rouge Catholic school system is struggling to accommodate evacuee families in this heavily Catholic region.

School begins today in Lafayette, La., for 30,000 students in the district and more than 4,000 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. For the hundreds of thousands of students and their families displaced by the storm, getting back to their studies is a huge step towards putting their lives back together.

Today was the first day of school in Lafayette, La. -- for local kids and for more than 4,000 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Many school districts along the Gulf Coast have stopped functioning, at least temporarily. Getting the youngsters back in school -- wherever they are now -- is a huge challenge. Claudio Sanchez, sorts out some of the key questions about the task.

SAT math scores continue to rise, and verbal scores are flat for a fourth year, according to new data released by the College Board. The report includes data on how American students scored on the new essay portion of the college-entrance exam.