Test Course
November 27, 2011 in Class 1
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No More TAKS!
January 26, 2010 in STARR
The Commissioner of Education, Robert Scott, and the Texas Education Agency announced today more information about the next generation of the state testing and accountability program. Starting in the 2011-2012 school year, TAKS tests will be replaced with a “significantly more rigorous” test called the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness or STARR.
An interesting piece of the new plan calls for a complete suspension of the state’s accountability and rating systemRead more
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How Are Budget Problems Affecting Teachers?
November 18, 2009 in Funding
It is no secret that most Texas school districts, if not all, around the state are tightening their purse strings due to the current economic downturn. A significant amount of school districts’ money comes from property taxes, and with a shaky housing market, revenue is not keeping up with the demands.
So how is this affecting Texas teachers? A quick look at news from around the state show a dim and frustrating next school year. Austin ISD Superintendent, MRead more
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Does Performance Pay Work?
November 11, 2009 in Teacher Pay
In a recent report from researchers at Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and the University of Missouri, researchers shared results that found that the Texas Educator Excellence Grant incentive pay program lead to no “impact on student achievement”. This means that in the schools where the TEEG performance pay was implemented, student results didn’t improve!
In this Dallas News article, you can read how despite these compelling findings, Gov. PeRead more
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Just Trying To Make a Buck
November 1, 2009 in Funding
In the past few months, I have noticed more and more examples of school districts and teachers doing crazy things to raise a buck in these difficult economic times. It started with the uproar last year when teachers were selling advertisements on their tests to afford the copies. Now, Arlington ISD is considering selling advertisements on school busses! You can read about it here.
Personally, advertisements often appear as an endorsement and it seemsRead more
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Minimum Grades and the Law
October 22, 2009 in law
In this letter to school districts, TEA Commissioner Robert Scott clarified recent changes to state law that require districts to allow teachers to assign grades less than a 50 to students on assignments. He extended his interpretation to include that districts must allow teachers to assign a grade less than 50% for grading periods. However, in this news article out of Abilene, we learn that some districts have been slow to change previous policies, which were commoRead more
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National Standards Leave Texas Behind
October 20, 2009 in Uncategorized
All but two states have signed agreements to adopt national standards for English and math. But Texas has decided it would probably be too costly to change now, and besides, we already have standards anyway. You can read details here about the standards and Texas’ (and Alaska’s) responses as to why they aren’t quite on board.
To me, why wouldn’t we want national standards? Think of all of the curriculum resources, textbooks, test prep guides, and more that are out there for eaRead more
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New Social Studies TEKS
October 18, 2009 in history
In case you didn’t know, the Social Studies standards are about to change. In the coming weeks, the Texas Education Agency should release proposed changes which will be followed by a several month comment and review period before final changes are adopted in the Spring. To check on progress of the proposed changes, check out http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=3643 for the latest information. We’ll also keep you updated here on the blog.
ThRead more