• Back to School. Post features, school phone numbers and calendars, along with homework helpers for kids, for the 1997-98 school year.

• The Challenge Index. How demanding are Washington-area high schools? Find out from a chart of rankings based on how much each school encourages students to take Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes.

• The Region's Valedictorians. See which students took top honors at area high schools in 1997 and what teens had to say about their successes.

• School Report Cards. The standardized test results for about 1,000 public schools are available in a special report, which also includes school locator maps, addresses and phone numbers.

• Children in Crisis. The D.C. control board's 1996 report details the failures of the District's public schools.

• D.C. Public Schools Test Results. School-by-school results and analyses of standardized tests taken in May 1997.

• D.C. Schools Crisis. Exclusive online documents, personality profiles and The Post's five-part series tell of the state of D.C. schools.

• School Closing Documents. Reports give the rationales for closing 16 D.C. schools in 1997 and descriptions of the physical condition of each.

• The Standards Bearer.The Post Magazine profiled Malcolm X Elementary School Principal John Pannell, who has spent 25 years trying to improve D.C. schools.

• A School's Big Test. The stakes on the standardized tests are enormous this year for the students and staff at a Southeast Washington school. Post reporter Debbi Wilgoren tracked the school's efforts to prepare for the Standford 9.

• List of public schools. Washingtonpost.com's Community Resources listings provide overviews, maps, test scores information and more for D.C. public schools.

• Desegregation on Trial. A federal judge reviews the effects of a quarter century of busing in the Prince George's school system. Read the history of the only desegregation order in the D.C.region.

• Maryland Student Assessment Results. Detailed tables and charts show school-by-school scores for the Maryland suburbs.

• Prince George's Schools: A Dream Unrealized. Uncertified teachers, crowded classrooms and poorly executed reform plans are undermining the quality of Prince George's County schools.

• List of public schools. Washingtonpost.com's Community Resources listings provide overviews, maps, test scores information and more for hundreds of Maryland primary and secondary schools and universities.

• Creating a New School. Post reporters chronicled the sometimes frustrating process of creating school spirit as students moved into a new high school in Potomac Falls.

• A New Era at VMI. Post coverage of the first coed class in Virginia Military Institute's 158-year history includes a photo gallery.

• Virginia Standardized Tests. Virginia's Standards of Learning tests are the most extensive assessment of academic skills in the state's history. Test your knowledge with sample questions.

• List of public schools. Washingtonpost.com's Community Resources listings provide overviews, maps, test scores information and more for hundreds of Virginia primary and secondary schools and universities.