It's back-to-school season, but teacher tenure has been a hot topic since summer began. In June a California court ruled that the state's tenure and seniority laws are unconstitutional in Vergara v. State of California. Minority students have filed a similar case in New York, with more to come elsewhere.

If there's one thing Americans know about international tests, it's this: we aren't very good at them. In 2012, the last time 15-year-olds from 65 countries and economies took an international math test, the US ended up ranked far from the top — particularly in math, where they were 27th of 34 countries. (The rankings aren't an exact science; the US could be ranked anywhere between 23rd and 29th, according to the Organization for Economic and Community Development.)

The possibility that the 113th Congress might yet reauthorize the Institute for Education Sciences (IES)—the House has passed H.R. 4366 and the Senate HELP Committee is cogitating—means it’s time once again to consider the status of the jewel in the IES crown, namely the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

In June, a judge declared California’s seniority protection laws unconstitutional. Citing the 1954 Brown decision, Judge Rolf Treu, in Vergara v. California, declared the laws in violation of the equal protection clause of the California state constitution because they limited minority access to effective teachers.