That’s not ideal, Mark and Amy Denicore admit. But, they wonder, is it a crime?

That’s the introduction to a list of seven myths about learning on the website of the Independent Curriculum Group, which is part of a movement of leading private college preparatory schools with teacher-generated curriculum.

The Web site for the Campus Climate Index doesn’t make clear when the 2011 ratings came out, but I gather they are relatively new, because I received an e-mail Wednesday from the University of Richmond, advertising its four-star rating. I glanced at the index and saw that some other local schools, including American University, scored even higher.

The growing private sector fills a niche in a market long dominated by public universities. The private schools offer millions of students a no-frills education and a better shot at a paycheck after graduation as China continues its quest to gain influence in the world economy.

Excelsior is a nonprofit college in Albany that specializes in helping mid-career adults finish their studies. The school consolidates college credits in the same way a debt-relief service consolidates bills, helping returning students clean up their transcripts and finish their degrees.

That means D.C. officials need to start planning now, says a new study by D.C. Action for Children. The non-profit advocacy group studied OSSE and census data in collaboration with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to develop a compelling set of ward-level demographic snapshots.

The 20 to 18 vote came one day after a companion bill had passed comfortably in the Republican-dominated House. In the Senate, which is evenly divided between the parties, all 20 Democrats opposed the bill. Two Republicans did not vote, effectively denying passage.

The Senate bill appeared to be in jeopardy when Sen. Stephen Newman (R-Lynchburg) asked that a vote be delayed until later in the day.

Teachers currently go through a three-year probationary period and then receive “continuing contracts” — often called tenure.

The Loudoun County couple was arraigned Monday morning in juvenile and domestic relations court. Judge Pamela L. Brooks set a trial date of March 14.

The budget represents a 2 percent increase over the current year’s spending, the smallest requested increase in more than a decade.

D.C. State Superintendent of Education Hosanna Mahaley said that auditors verified 31,562 students in the independently operated charter schools as of fall 2011, up from 29,356 in fall 2010.

The 128 classrooms, spread across 54 public and public charter schools, represent less than three percent of classrooms citywide in which tests were administered last April. They were identified in a study last July by CTB/McGraw-Hill, publisher of the DC CAS, as having “inordinate numbers” of wrong-to-right erasures on answer sheets. The study, which wasn’t made public by OSSE until late December, said the data “may indicate inappropriate intervention on students’ answer documents by an educator.”

About 30 teachers clutched coffee mugs and pinned on yellow “work to the rule” buttons on jackets as they prepared to walk in unison at exactly 7:15 a.m. The campaign is meant to highlight how much teachers do for students and the community outside of the contract hours of their day, 7:15 a.m to 2:15 p.m. As teachers plan to work solely during those hours during the protest, after-school activities and club meetings would be dramatically affected and will most likely have to be altered or canceled if the campaign becomes widespread.

The protests would take the form of a “work to the rule” campaign, whereby teachers would come in together and work just the hours stipulated by their contract, usually 7:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. While mostly symbolic, the protests are meant to underscore how much teachers do for their students outside of school hours, such as helping with homework or leading before and after school activities.

Tuesday morning at 11:15, denizens of Catholic in Northeast Washington put down what they were doing, scuttled under desks and held on tight. It was a test of earthquake etiquette that nearly everyone in Washington failed last August, when the city was visited by an actual earthquake.

In a study of nearly a million Texas children described as an unprecedented look at discipline, researchers found that nearly identical schools suspended and expelled students at very different rates.