Irin (All Africa) – Staff Writer

“Hargeisa — School enrolment has risen sharply in Somalia’s self-declared independent region of Somaliland since 1991, raising the literacy rate from 20 percent to 45 percent, education officials have said.”(more)

Wall Street Journal – Farnaz Fassihi

“Behind the drama unfolding in the streets of Iran, the regime is quietly clamping down on some of the nation’s best students by derailing their academic and professional careers.”(more)

The Times – Joanna Sugden

“Charlotte Andrews, 22, moved home after graduating from the University of Chichester with a degree in media studies last year. She waitressed for four months before finding work experience at a London PR agency. “I didn’t want to stay in Chichester and knew I wanted to work in London, so it was cheaper to live with my parents and commute, because I couldn’t afford to move out on my own,” she said.”(more)

Denver Post – Jeremy P. Meyer

“Following a growing nationwide trend toward single-gender classroom education, the first all-girls public school in Colorado will open next year in Denver.”(more)

Associated Press (San Diego Union-Tribune) – Alan Scher Zagier

“If grades make you a long shot for college, you’re much more likely to get a break if you can play ball. An Associated Press review of admissions data submitted to the NCAA by most of the 120 schools in college football’s top tier shows that athletes enjoy strikingly better odds of having admission requirements bent on their behalf.”(more)

Deseret News – Wendy Leonard

“Utah taxpayers have until 5 p.m. Thursday to make tax-deductible contributions to valuable college savings plans.”(more)

Business Week – Kathleen Doheny

“Eating a healthy diet, of course, can help fight obesity in kids. But health experts agree that physical activity is crucial, too. Making sure kids develop the physical activity habit early — and keep it — can help ensure that they will keep a healthy body weight as well.”(more)

USA Today – Mary Beth Marklein

“The nation’s colleges this year faced their worst financial challenges in decades. Endowments took their biggest hit ever — down an average 19% this year, says an estimate by the Commonfund Institute, a non-profit research organization.”(more)

USA Today – Greg Toppo

“For the nation’s K-12 schools, 2009 may well go down as the year when everything changed but little happened.”(more)

MSNBC – Bob Sullivan

“Just as there is a hidden epidemic of people who are functionally illiterate in our country, there is big problem (bigger, by my reckoning) with people who can’t do basic math. There’s no way to function in our society without understanding money, percentages, interest calculation and so on. Yet in a recent government study, less than one in seven American adults ranked “proficient” at math.”(more)