A lawsuit brought by four families argues that the city’s methodology is flawed when it comes to determining which children are eligible for gifted and talented programs.

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson, one of the Democrats running for mayor, said mayoral control could be in jeopardy when it comes up for renewal if there are not “tweaks” made to Mayor Bloomberg’s education reforms.

City students who apply to a charter school now have a 27 percent chance of getting in, as more of the privately managed public schools take root. But there’s still a waiting list of more than 50,000 students.

Six of the candidates running for mayor addressed hundreds of teachers at a union-organized forum on Saturday. They all criticized aspects of Mayor Bloomberg’s record, and said they would give more respect to teachers and families.

Elections for the city’s parent councils may continue. A group of candidates unsuccessfully tried to persuade a judge to halt the process because they felt they weren’t given a full opportunity to campaign before voting began on May 1.

For all the anxiety about testing and test results, the middle step of actually scoring the New York State tests, given to students in April, is getting scant attention. Yet city teachers are spending work hours grading the state tests, with a varying degree of training. One teacher said there’s a “very complicated and lengthy rubric we were given to help us score” and another described debates among scorers about how to assess student writing.

Emails between City Hall and Cathie Black, who Mayor Bloomberg nominated to replace Joel Klein as schools chancellor, show a mad scramble to rally celebrities to support the embattled nominee. A court ruling on Thursday forced the administration to release the emails to the public.

Eight parents who are running to sit on local Community Education Councils are suing to stop the elections. They argue the process has not allowed them a fair chance to reach the select parents with the authority to vote for them.

Teens from one Bronx high school are trying to get the message out that driving and texting don’t mix. Sophia Martinez, a junior at the Collegiate Institute of Math and Science, stood with dozens of classmates off Pelham Parkway with signs saying “save lives, don’t text.” She said her boyfriend got into a minor car [...]

The president of the American Federation of Teachers came back home to New York to call for putting “a brake on the stakes.” She criticized using new state test results before teachers are fully trained in standards called the Common Core, and curriculum is widely available.