PBS Newshour education correspondent John Merrow spent the 2007-2008 school year reporting on two cities attempting to dramatically reform their chronically failing public school systems. Both New Orleans and Washington, D.C. have brought in nationally recognized superintendents and are instituting charter schools and other new approaches to try to turn the tide on dwindling performance in inner city schools. The full series of reports, titled “Leadership: A Challenging Course” is now up online at PBS’ Web site. Merrow also is fielding questions from viewers and PBS has set up a separate Web page on New Orleans' education system, with background information, podcasts and links to other blogs continuing the discussion.