Next year's Gilbert district kindergartners will have less art, music and P.E. instruction, and their teachers will have less time with help from instructional assistants.

The next school year is months away, but already parents are selecting schools for their children to begin kindergarten in the fall. Barbara VeNard, assistant superintendent of educational services for Gilbert Unified School District, said there are a number of things parents can do to prepare their children for making the transition to school.

Gilbert’s freshmen and sophomores will have a biology option next year that they’ve never faced before: Taking home a textbook or getting online.

Gilbert’s freshmen and sophomores will have a biology option next year that they’ve never faced before: Taking home a textbook or getting online.

Arizona's public schools saw increased scores in all subjects on Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards, which tests students in reading, writing, and math. For the first time this year, science scores are also available.

Two women and two men, including an elementary school principal and a former math teacher, are in the running to be the next superintendent of the Gilbert Unified School District.

The state is requiring Arizona high school students to have 22 credits to graduate, starting with next year's freshman class. But several East Valley school districts are looking at requiring even more credits for those seniors graduating in 2013.

Gifted students will have another education option next year after the Gilbert Unified School District governing board approved creation of a self-contained classroom program.

A Gilbert Town Council vote to halt funding for monthlong summer reading programs in two school districts that serve the community likely spells the end for one program, but maybe not for the other.

The Gilbert Unified School District governing board will pick a new superintendent at today's board meeting, weeks earlier than originally anticipated, according to the board president. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Quartz Hill Elementary School, 3680 S. Quartz St. A dedication of the district's newest school is planned at 6 p.m.

The Gilbert Unified School District is considering raising the number of math and science credits needed for next year’s freshmen to graduate.

Since 2001, Arizona has seen a steady jump in the number of high school students taking at least one Advanced Placement exam — from 10.1 percent of the Class of 2001 to 16.6 percent of the Class of 2011.

The night after the Gilbert Unified School District board notified about 400 teachers their jobs are in jeopardy, its members got a little bit of good news from police Chief Tim Dorn.

Parents doing their homework as they shift their children into and throughout East Valley school districts have a core place to start: The classroom. School districts map out their curriculum and select textbooks according to hundreds of state standards, but what they can’t map out is how each teacher uses those standards.

A few months ago, students received their grades. Now, Arizona schools get theirs.

About 5,000 fliers were mailed in Mesa, 4,500 DVDs distributed in Tempe and dozens of open houses were organized across the East Valley during the last few months — all in an effort to let families know it’s time to choose a kindergarten.