Education advocate Michelle Rhee was on the Leonard Lopate Show recently to talk about her experience as former chancellor of Washington, DC's public schools. She also told us what she's been reading and listening to these days!

Many New York City school bus routes were shuttered today as drivers went on strike. Schoolbook reporters Beth Fertig and Yasmeen Khan update the latest. Then, Nicole Gelinas, contributing editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, discusses how the city should approach negotiations with the union and the bus companies.

A New York appeals panel has heard fresh arguments on an old subject - worship services in public schools - and seems hesitant to let them continue.

The first Parent Academy took place Saturday, kicking off a NYC Department of Education program designed to foster partnerships between parents and schools.

Teachers were back in school Friday, preparing for Monday’s reopening.  But eight public schools are still doing double duty as shelters for those displaced by flooding from Sandy. At Brooklyn Tech, the borough's most sought after public high school, students will share their building with the elderly and people with mental and physical disabilities. Some are apprehensive.

New York City students likely will return to school on Monday, making it at least a full week off of school because of damage and clean-up efforts from superstorm Sandy.

Takeaway listeners from Vancouver to New Jersey have been responding to this week's series on education with stories about their favorite educators, testimonials about their own schools, and observations about public education in the United States.

After hearing from public education experts, scholars, and advocates, The Takeaway invited teachers from around the country to describe the students they worry about the most and the issues that are of the biggest concern to them.

This week the show is taking a close look at education in America, with interviews with education experts from around the country. Takeaway listeners have had a lot to say about this topic. Parents, teachers, and education advocates alike have been chiming in on the website, on Facebook, Twitter, and by text message, email, and voicemail. Host John Hockenberry takes us through some of the best responses yet.

Early yesterday morning, the public school teachers of Chicago went on strike, and in the hours since, we’ve heard a lot about contracts, salaries, city government, and unions. And of course, we’ve also heard both sides mention the students, but in very different contexts.

Thousands of teachers are on strike in Chicago after the teachers union and the city's education officials failed to reach an agreement on contract negotiations by midnight last night.

Carol and Joe Reich, talk about their role in the education reform movement. Getting to Bartlett Street: Our 25-Year Quest to Level the Playing Field in Education is the story of how they started one of the first charter schools in the country in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Black and Latino students made up more than 96 percent of the arrests by NYPD School Safety officers during the 2011-2012 school year, according to recent data released by the NYPD. But the New York Civil Liberties Union believes the numbers betray a "heavy-handed" approach to discipline, particularly in minority neighborhoods.

Radio Rookies attend "Bully" Movie Screening at the Village Cinema, hosted by Hive Learning Network.  

Bullying is commonplace in schools, but in recent years cyber-bullying, suicides, and school shootings have shown bullying to be a very serious issue. On this week’s Please Explain we’ll find out what constitutes bullying and aggression among children (and adults), its repercussions, and how parents, children, and schools should address it. We’re joined by Elizabeth Englander, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University, and Jessie Klein, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Adelphi University, and author of The Bully Society: School Shootings and the Crisis of Bullying in America’s Schools.

A federal appeals court has rejected an attempt by New York City to keep churches out of its public schools while a judge decides whether a city law banning them from its school buildings can be enforced.

Religious groups that meet in public schools are asking a federal judge for a temporary restraining order — to let them continue worshiping there, while they mount another legal challenge to their eviction.  Last Sunday was the final day that churches were allowed to hold services in public schools.

Some 50 churches that worship in New York City schools are hoping their scheduled eviction this Sunday will be delayed by a potential change in state law.

In the last 15 years, California, Arizona, and Massachusetts have all replaced bilingual education with English immersion programs as a way to address the achievement gap between native and non-native speakers. Statistics show that only 11 percent of California’s English learners reached proficiency last year. How to teach new immigrants English has become an increasingly divisive debate in classrooms across the country with politicians like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich chiming in to show their support of English immersion programs.