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The new benchmarks in reading and math have been adopted in 45 states and Washington, D.C. But there's still plenty of confusion about what exactly the standards are, and what they mean for students.

The L.A. musicians played for thousands and saw Venezuela's "El Sistema" music education up close.

Songwriter Vic Chesnutt has often been called gifted, but in the past, his introspective, idiosyncratic music has been deemed too gloomy for the masses. On his latest CD, Silver Lake, Chesnutt's songs take an upbeat turn, though his homey narrative style and gallows humor remain. Listen to songs from Silver Lake, and watch Chesnutt's performance in NPR's studio 4A.

Researchers from Birmingham University used high-tech equipment to map 17 ritual monuments in the area. That's in addition to the iconic circle of stones that has stood there for thousands of years.

This means that next month you can bid on one of the animatronic figures that smile along the boat ride "It's a Small World" --bringing joy to some people and rage to others.

Duncan Sheik burst onto the music scene in 1997 with his hit single "Barely Breathing," and garnered rave reviews for his own brand of folk-tinged pop music. For his fourth record, Daylight, New York-based Sheik — singer, songwriter, composer, producer and guitarist — dares to rock out a little more than usual. He talks to NPR's Jacki Lyden.

"It's money being moved around at a frantic rate because they don't have the money," one expert says.

From the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s through the Vietnam War, Martha Gellhorn covered the major conflicts of her day. Best known as the third wife of Ernest Hemingway, Gellhorn was also a pioneer in journalism, telling the story of war in a unique and personal way. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports on a new biography of the writer.

From Broadway to Sesame Street, Kristen Chenoweth has tackled a wide range of roles, genres and media. Now, she tells her own story in her autobiography, A Little Bit Wicked.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants marched, and scores of businesses closed, for what some called the "Great American Boycott." But what impact did the "Day Without Immigrants" have on the United States?