Bill White Debuts "Dropouts and Distractions"
Democrat Bill White's campaign has gone back to the drawing board and returned with a brand-new take on Gov. Rick Perry.
The web ad features a cartoon Perry standing behind a podium emblazoned with a "GOVERNOR FOR LIFE" sign as reporters press him on the dropout rate in Texas schools. While artistic (if you can call it that) license has been taken, the animated debate isn't far removed from real life — Perry says the much-discussed rate is approximately 10 percent, while others (including a new U.S. Department of Education report the White campaign cites in its press ...
Comments (8)
EJ Preston via Texas Tribune on Facebook
well, either side can claim whatever.... but could someone please tell me what the Office of the Governor has to do with education in Texas...? I believe the primary oversight of such resides in the Leg...?
ahh... campaigning..!!
Melissa Sims via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So what are White's big plans to keep kids in school? If he has a solution, I want to hear it.
Phillip Martin
Melissa,
The following information is Bill White's website: http://www.billwhitefortexas.com/issues/education/
* When a student drops out of school, it must be treated as an emergency, not just another statistic. In Houston we launched Expectation Graduation to cut the dropout rate. For example, each fall, my wife Andrea and I led thousands of volunteers to go to the homes of high school students who have not returned to school. Approximately 8,800 students have returned to school as a result, and this initiative has been replicated in communities across Texas.
* There should be multiple pathways to high school graduation. Students who must work should be matched with jobs close to school. As Governor, I would help local school officials work with local employers to create effective job banks for those students who have to work, with some requirement that the student stay in school. There also should be flexible hours for classes, like those provided by community colleges, for students who must work.
* There must be pathways to bring students who have dropped out but wish to return to school back up to grade level. Following the influx of students during Hurricane Katrina, in Houston we found that a combination of tutoring and summer schools was effective.
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I'll also add that Bill White has a cool feature where you can vote for your top education priorities yourself. Check it out here: http://billwhitefortexas.ideascale.com/
Brian Jordan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
White has no chance. Give up now. Texas stays RED in the fall. :)
Bonnie Alexander Lesley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Maybe so, maybe no.
Nick Carona via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Wow, that ad will only endear the Guv to people...."Y'all see my new car....I'm Staying!"
teach_j
The production values in that commercial are terrible. I like the sentiment, but it looks like a bunch of middle school kids made it in Windows Movie Maker. The cut out of White makes him look more stiff than he already is and I didn't think that was possible. He should have been green-screened in live. The chalk boards were the best part. They need to hit this harder than they are - this issue and the college costs. Big connects with voters.
bbetzen
If Bill Wright were to understand and adopt the following "Texas Dropout Prevention two-step" he may become our next governor a bit more easily, and then really change Texas!
For the first step in this “Texas Dropout Prevention Two-step” he must help us all to more easily understand how bad the dropout rates are in almost every Texas school. Every school and school district should have a multi-year enrollment by grade spreadsheet, with graduation numbers for each year. When such annually updated spreadsheets going back a decade or more are easy to find for ever school on school district websites we will have a way to easily follow dropout rate fluctuations year to year. Such transparency will initially make people angry, but this gives us a place to start. We can then track progress using this more easily audit-able data with minimal potential for staff manipulation, and at very minimal expense. It only involves placing already collected data into a spreadsheet and online.
For the second step in the “Texas Dropout Prevention Two-step” he must understand that while the many efforts being tried to lower dropout rates (home visits, daytime curfews, truancy fines, etc...) can help, these efforts should never receive more attention, media time, or human effort than the ultimate goals of education itself: self-improvement.
Our students must want to stay in school for the right reasons, not because the classroom is an effective detention facility!
The second step is to focus students on their own futures in as concrete and physical a way as is possible. To achieve this future focus a Dallas middle school started the School Archive Project in 2005. It is a 10-year time capsule and class reunion project. It involves a 350 pound vault bolted to the floor in the school lobby to function as the 10-year time-capsule. It holds letters 8th grade students write to themselves about their history and plans for the future. Students place their letter, and also often a letter from their parents, or a teacher, about their dreams for the student, into one envelope. At the end of the year there is a small ceremony wherein they pose in front of the School Archive vault with their Language Arts class holding their sealed letters for a photo. They then place their letters inside the vault.
Students receive a copy of this photo with information on the back about their 10-year class reunion. They are reminded that they will be invited at that reunion to speak with then current 8th grade classes about their recommendations for success. They are warned to prepare for questions such as; “Would you do anything differently if you were 13 again?”
Thinking of answering such a question in 10 years helps students realize the value of current school work. They must build their own futures. Nobody is going to do it for them.
The first students to write letters for the School Archive graduated in 2009 as members of the largest 12th grade class in over a decade! The Class of 2010 again set graduation rate records!
This project has now spread to 6 schools within Dallas ISD. It is a simple project helping teachers do what they have always done, focus students onto their own futures.
At a cost that is about a dollar per child per year, it is a project all schools should be involved in. It only requires one dedicated teacher as project manager who is also interested in motivating their students to write more, to better understand the flow of time and history, and to find more value in education.