IN THE NEWS: Reading, Writing and Unruliness: A New Focus on Student Behavior

Alexis Ramirez missed most of kindergarten to sobbing fits. First grade at Edison Elementary was little better. She would cling to the school gates or run from the classroom. Her flustered parents enlisted a police officer to tell Alexis that school was mandatory. Nothing worked.

Missing so much class dragged down her grades. It took heavy cajoling and rewards from her mother and her teachers to coax Alexis, now 8, to the classroom, but slowly she came around to the idea. Now she clamors for books and primps in the mirror each morning before school. Read More from the Voice of San Diego.