AP - Kansas City School Superintendent John Covington says the decision to close almost half the district's schools was difficult and painful but "unquestionably the right thing to do."

AP - The University of Alabama in Huntsville has fired the professor accused of shooting six co-workers, killing three.

Reuters - In search of Mr. or Mrs. Right, dozens of Japanese are attending a newly launched school in Tokyo that aims to turn them into marriage material.

AP - Governors and education leaders on Wednesday proposed sweeping new school standards that could lead to students across the country using the same math and English textbooks and taking the same tests, replacing a patchwork of state and local systems in an attempt to raise student achievement nationwide.

The Christian Science Monitor - The public got its first look Wednesday at the English and math academic standards that may eventually be the new norm for America’s K-12 schools – an important step in the Obama administration’s effort to raise expectations for what students should learn and to shift schools toward the goal of “college and career readiness.”