Free Republic

At Scarsdale High School north of New York City, one in five students is eligible for extra time or another accommodation such as a separate room for taking the SAT or ACT college entrance exam. At Weston High School in Connecticut, it is one in four. At Newton North High School outside Boston, it’s one in three. “Do I think that more than 30% of our students have a disability?” said Newton Superintendent David Fleishman. “No. We have a history of over-identification [as learning-challenged] that is certainly an issue in the district.” Across the country, the number of public high-school...

My son slides under the daybed, flattening his sprawling limbs in all directions across the dusty floor, then retracting them with a jerk. “I’m making myself invisible!” he declares. He knows our news is unwelcome. Don’t let him think it’s because of him, his doctor had coached. Crouching, I reach my hand to stroke his arm — a gesture I realize is not enough to comfort a boy whose body short circuits with uncertainty. My husband and I tell him: You can’t start second grade tomorrow. We’re leaving Singapore. We’re moving to America. We don’t know when. It will be...

<p>Tikrit, Iraq -- Editor's note: Chronicle staff writer Matthew B. Stannard was riding along with a U.S. Army convoy in Iraq that came under attack Saturday..</p> <p>It ended with fire and blood and death, but Lt. Col. Steve Russell's Saturday night patrol began quietly, his convoy of three humvees cruising calmly out of the north gate of Saddam Hussein's presidential compound in Tikrit under a sky filled with glittering stars.</p>