The founder of the National College Advising Corps on why she believes her program will increase the number of high school graduates going to college — and ease the state’s gaping school counselor shortage.
Morgan Smith
Morgan Smith was a reporter at the Tribune from 2009 to 2018, covering politics, public education and inequality.
In 2013, she received a National Education Writers Association award for “Death of a District,” a series on school closures. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College, she moved to Austin in 2008 to enter law school at the University of Texas.
A San Antonio native, her work has also appeared in Slate, where she spent a year as an editorial intern in Washington D.C.
Posted in
Public Education
31 Days, 31 Ways: Students Switch from TAKS to STAAR
DAY 8 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Armed with fewer resources, educators prepare students for rigorous new STAAR test.
Posted inState Government
First Lady Who Avoids Spotlight Faces a Bigger One
Anita Perry first entered the national consciousness as the spur to her husband’s possible presidential run. But a different theme emerges when friends and associates talk about the wife of Texas’ 47th governor: She is not the type to draw attention to herself.
Posted in
Public Education
School Ratings “Far More Accurate” — and Lower
The vise squeezing Texas schools since the Legislature voted to remove $4 billion in state funding is getting a little tighter.
Posted in
Public Education
With Change in Formula, School Ratings Drop Precipitously
The new accountability ratings released Friday for public school campuses in the state’s 1,228 districts and charter schools are markedly lower from the ratings given last year.
Posted in
Public Education
Fees for Students Redefine “Free” Public School
As cash-strapped public schools attempt to squeeze every possible dollar out of their budgets, an unpleasant reality awaits parents: They will most likely have to pay for programs and services that schools once provided for free.
Posted in
Public Education
Change in Ratings Protocol Worries Some Schools
This will be the first year school accountability ratings will not contain a mechanism that, for some schools, had boosted their scores and led to higher ratings. Now they’ll have to explain to parents what the change means for their kids.
Posted in
Public Education
Updated: SBOE Gives OK to Science Supplements
After battle appeared to be brewing between the state education board’s left and right factions on contested language on evolution in one publisher’s biology lessons, members found a compromise: Let the education commissioner decide.
Posted in
Public Education
Cargill: Peacemaker or Culture Warrior?
Supporters say the new chairwoman of the State Board of Education is a mild-tempered, fair leader who is well suited to oversee the fractious board. Her critics say she is a culture warrior who injects her religious and political agenda into classrooms.
Posted in
Higher Education
Report Questions How Texas Schools Mete Out Discipline
Almost 55 percent of recent Texas public school students were suspended at least once between their seventh and 12th grade years, according to a statewide report released today.
