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There’s a group of students struggling through school rd to navigate that gets little attention in the media or in the debate about how to fix schools: Children with ADHD. ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a brain condition that makes it especially hard for children to focus and concentrate in school and has a number of other symptoms. It is too often misunderstood by teachers, parents and even the students themselves. According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 9.5% or 5.4 million children 4-17 years of age, had been diagnosed with ADHD, as of 2007. Many others who have the disorder haven’t had the benefit of a diagnosis. Here is a powerful post by David Bernstein, a nonprofit executive who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., writing about the difficulties that his two sons, ages 7 and 15, have confronted in school as a result of ADHD.

It was 50 years ago this month that the movement to help students with learning disabilities began. Here’s what happened.

State education leaders will make changes to a set of proposals designed to shift student discipline practices in Maryland toward a more “rehabilitative” approach that would reduce suspensions, keep students in school and teach positive behavior. The Maryland State Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to withdraw proposed regulations and amend them in a way that officials said would not alter the spirit of the reforms but would address some complaints voiced in recent months.

The changes will revive regulatory language that recognizes “an environment of order and discipline necessary for effective learning” and add a preamble that points out the authority of local school boards to create district discipline policies.The board held firm in its emphasis on rehabilitative practices, as well as its revised definitions for out-of-school suspensions and its requirement that schools provide educational services for suspended students.

Raising the achievement of students with learning disabilities is hard, expensive, controversial and complex. School systems must pay private school tuition for students they can’t adequately serve. Educators and parents sometimes disagree on what methods to use. Education writers like me rarely deal with the subject because it is difficult to explain and lacks many success stories. That explains in part why learning disabilities are so poorly understood, as revealed by a remarkable survey just released by the nonprofit National Center for Learning Disabilities. The representative sampling of 2,000 Americans provides a rare look at the depths of our ignorance. Forty-three percent believe that learning disabilities correlate with IQ. Fifty-five percent think that corrective eyewear can treat certain learning disabilities. Twenty-two percent believe that learning disabilities can be caused by spending too much time watching computer or television screens. All of those impressions are wrong.

Gates, through his philanthropic foundation, has invested billions of dollars in education experiments and now has a pivotal role in reform efforts. Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration's education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to announce Monday that his agency is ramping up enforcement of civil rights laws in schools and colleges, a move that seeks to draw a contrast with the policies of his Republican predecessors.

Military families who move from post to post have in the past struggled to get consistent support for their special needs children. Recently the Army and Marine Corps began providing caseworkers and legal aid to help parents negotiate for more resources.

The Private School Universe Survey, part of the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, is a biennial roundup of private schools with information on enrollment, demographics, college attendance rates and number of days in the school year.

ere’s an infographic about some myths about education, from InformED, a blog by Open Colleges, an online education provider based in Sydney, Australia.

New technology has dramatically improved the quality of hearing aids in the past decade, but some say an old technology could have the most profound impact in the decade to come on millions of people with hearing loss.

The philosophy behind the flip is that teachers can spend time working with students who need their help in the classroom — and students can work together to solve problems — rather than sitting home alone with work they might not understand and with nobody to ask for help.

For years Shirky has allowed his students to bring laptops, tablets and phones into class and use them at will. But he just told students to put them away. He explains why below

Increased awareness of learning challenges such as dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder, together with improved diagnosis and treatment, has helped millions of students improve their academic performance. But, as they enter their senior year of high school and begin the college admissions process, they face a whole new set of challenges. Now is the time to begin preparing to meet them.

Congress passed a bill on Tuesday night that would make the Internet and mobile phones more accessible to people with disabilities. The legislation will go to President Obama next week to sign into law. Advocates for the blind and deaf say the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act would ensure that Web sites and makers of consumer electronics consider the vision- and hearing-impaired, who have been left behind as more communications tools move to the Web.

This fall, a fancy new place opened in Vienna that will give him that level of care for $75 a night. Called Jill's House, it boasts a swimming pool, gym, music room, art center, suites with bejeweled ceilings that look like outer space and a playground so cool, I'd call it Seven Flags. There's a ceiling track that snakes from the bed to the bath, so that a guest can be carried, via sling, for bathing. There's the indoor-outdoor lock system, in case a guest bolts. Picture cards all over the place let the guests point to food, water or a toilet if they can't articulate a need. The indoor swimming pool, surrounded by Bahamian decor, has water-proof wheelchairs, a ramp, a sling and one lifeguard for every guest.