Some new numbers about the No Child Left Behind Act paint a bleak portrait of the country's education system. According to a report from the Center on Education Policy, 48 percent of the nation’s public schools did not meet No Child Left Behind's requirements for "adequate yearly progress," a percentage-based criteria for improvement set by individual states. However, students's performance on the national standardized test are not considered in AYP.

The Takeaway has been talking this week about the controversy that has erupted around the TLC reality show "All-American Muslim" after the home improvement store Lowe's pulled its ads from the broadcast. The move came after a group called the Florida Family Association launched a campaign against the show, urging companies to pull their ads. Reaction to the Florida Family Association and Lowe's has raised the profile of the cable show, as well as the community of Dearborn, Michigan where it is filmed.

On Monday, The Takeaway reported on the home improvement store Lowe's pulling its advertising from the TLC reality show "All-American Muslim" after a conservative Florida lobbying group launched a campaign against the show. Takeaway listeners have a lot to say about this incident and what it means for religion in America.

The Supreme Court has announced that it will rule on Arizona’s tough immigration law. The case is making its way to the highest court after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco blocked parts of the law in April. One of the parts of the law in question is a provision that requires state law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest.

Last month The Takeaway discussed "All-American Muslim," TLC's latest reality show. In the month that the show has been on air, the Florida Family Association mounted a campaign against the program. Last week, one of the show's advertisers, Lowe's, announced that they would no longer run their ads on "All-American Muslim." "Lowe's has received a significant amount of communication on this program, from every perspective possible," the company's statement said. "Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views."

European leaders have drawn up a new fiscal accord. In the new agreement, the European nations agreed on tighter budget regulations as part of an effort to reassure investors that the euro is a stable currency. "The most important question from our citizens, from our financial markets, our investors, are we 17 in the euro zone or are we one?" said Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, on Friday. "Now is the answer. We are one."

Every Monday, The Takeaway looks at the big stories that will dominate headlines in the week ahead. The euro zone may be on the brink of an agreement that will set into motion budget crunching measures throughout the continent. The GOP is heading into the home stretch in Iowa. And Congress looks to possibly pass a jobs bill.

The Dover Air Force Base has already been under scrutiny for how it handled the remains of hundreds of American soldiers. On Thursday, the service said it disposed of the cremated partial remains of at least 274 troops in a Virginia landfill. Although the practice was ended three years ago, the Air Force says it has no plans to alert the families of the troops whose remains may have been sent to the landfill.

Virginia Tech freshman Kelsey Starr, of Avon, Conn., has been live tweeting her experience on campus in the wake of a shooting incident Thursday that left a police officer and one other person dead. Starr, who writes for the university's newspaper, the Collegiate Times, told Takeaway producer Mythili Rao that the campus was under strict lockdown. "They don't know exactly where he is and everyone's on lockdown," she said. "Everyone's scared and I'm actually in one of the academic buildings here. I locked myself in a room with 3 other girls." Listen to the interview: 

The impact of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations around the country is difficult to see in raw numbers. But the way in which the national discourse has been moved, and how individual lives have been changed tells another compelling story of the movement's potential. The families in millions of households across the nation who are fighting to hold onto their homes against banks, authority, and the much reviled "1 percent" may have a powerful new ally. Occupy Our Homes, the latest incarnation of the OWS, is seizing foreclosed homes and claiming them for families in need.

Occupy Wall Street encampments have been disappearing across the country. But after seeing seeing their presence steadily diminish in recent weeks as cold weather and police-led evictions have cleared camps, Occupy has found a new rallying cry. "Foreclose on banks, not people" is the maxim of a new viral video from Occupy Our Homes, the next iteration of the movement. Occupy Our Homes began a major campaign Tuesday, staging marches in 25 cities, and taking over foreclosed properties for homeless families.

Last April, an explosion at Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 men. According to the federal government, the explosion was an "entirely preventable" tragedy. On Tuesday, the mine's new owners reached a $210 million settlement in connection with the accident. Under the terms of the settlement, the owner of the mine will not be charged with any crimes, but the agreement leaves the door open for individual employees to be prosecuted in the future. But whether anyone will be held accountable, and whether the culture that lead to the lack of safety in the mine will finally change is yet to be seen.

There's no question that our American health care system needs fixing. Dr. Donald Berwick, the man who was in charge of Medicare and Medicaid until last Thursday, was committed to ending waste. "Much is done that does not help patients at all," Dr. Berwick recently told The New York Times, "and many physicians know it." Dr. Berwick's quest to reform Medicare and Medicaid, the result of a temporary appointment made by President Obama last year, came to an end after just 17 months.

Each year, millions of dollars of Mexican drug money pass through the hands of American Drug Enforcement Administration officials. Undercover American narcotics agents launched the money laundering operation in order to trace the drug cartels. This is not the first instance of a U.S. governmental agency using illegal means to fight the war against drugs in Mexico. While the effectiveness of either program stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. remains unclear, their impact on Mexican citizens is less ambiguous.

Over the weekend a new poll conducted by The Des Moines Register found Newt Gingrich in the lead, with the support of 25 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers. The poll was conducted before Herman Cain suspended his candidacy on Saturday, and it gave stark evidence of the former Godfather CEO's fall from favor: Cain was tied with Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for last place. With Cain’s campaign on hold, and the Iowa Caucus just a month away, Republican presidential candidates are competing for the backing of his former supporters.  

In response to the coverage of Egypt's elections, the Takeaway has heard a lot from listeners about our use of the term "Islamist" to describe the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and other parties in Egypt. One Takeaway listener wrote on our Web site, "Is there Christianists and Jewists? It is about time that sensitivity was built in the media discourse."

Since President Obama introduced the American Jobs Act in September of this year, he has spoken publicly about it more than 50 times. The jobs report for November comes out this morning and the consensus call is that 125,000 new jobs were created this month. Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, speaks about the latest jobs numbers as well as specific economic and educational reforms that are trying — with mixed success — to remedy the situation.

Governors Christine Gregoire of Washington and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island have petitioned the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses. Rhode Island and Washington state have already decriminalized medical marijuana in their states. But marijuana is currently classified by the federal government as a Schedule I controlled substance — the same category as heroin and LSD. It's a confusing distinction for many medical marijuana patients in those states. Governors Gregoire and Chafee say the federal government should reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance in order to cut down confusion for medial marijuana patients.

Herman Cain is the latest in a long line of political figures dogged by allegations of extramarital affairs. Cain is said to be reconsidering his campaign after an Atlanta woman came forward on Monday alleging a 13-year-affair with the one-time Republican front runner. But, should the allegations be true, Cain is hardly alone when it comes to adultery. Fellow GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had two marriages unravel after affairs. Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, Jim McGreevey, and Bill Clinton are just a few names on a long list of American politicians with wandering eyes. But does adultery disqualify a candidate from political office? Does being unfaithful to one's spouse give any indication of what kind of leader he or she might be?

Though it sounds like bad news, some analysts are saying the bankruptcy filing by American Airlines and its parent company could be a good thing. On Tuesday, Fitch Ratings said American Airlines' bankruptcy opens "yet another window for structure change" in the flailing U.S. airline industry. Can an industry facing skyrocketing fuel prices, increasingly complex security procedures, and growing concerns about air traffic control safety find its wings?