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No More TAKS!
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
How Are Budget Problems Affecting Teachers?
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
Does Performance Pay Work?
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
Just Trying To Make a Buck
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
Minimum Grades and the 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
National Standards Leave Texas Behind
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