The latest Texas Education Agency news from The Texas Tribune.
After five years of landing on the state’s list of low-performing schools, a tiny South Texas district that drew national headlines for cutting its sports program to ward off closure is now meeting state academic standards. Full Story
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Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Tuesday outlined plans to crack down harder on chronically low-performing schools, saying he wants to cut in half the number of them that end up on the state’s failing list over the next five years. Full Story
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A special panel recommending changes to the state’s public school testing and accountability system has stopped short of proposing that Texas scrap the controversial assessment regime known as STAAR. Full Story
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An ambitious new player has emerged in the controversial effort to use taxpayer dollars to help Texas parents send their kids to private or religious schools. Full Story
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Nearly 6,000 Texas high school students were cleared for graduation in 2015 even though they didn't pass all of their end-of-course exams, according to data the Texas Education Agency posted online this spring but did not announce. Full Story
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Before they can get driver's licenses, some young Texans must take state-mandated driving courses taught by private contractors. Five deaf students sued the state after they couldn't get anyone to provide sign-language interpreters. Full Story
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Education Commissioner Mike Morath expanded Monday on his decision to waive requirements for 5th and 8th graders who failed this year's STAAR exams, saying that a delay in the return of test scores forced the need to take action. Full Story
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A high-performing West Austin school district says it was told the state’s new testing vendor misplaced some or all of the STAAR exams its 3rd through 8th graders took this spring. But New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service says that’s not true. Full Story
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A backlash against this year’s STAAR exams escalated Monday when a group of parents sued the state in an attempt to keep schools from using 2016 test scores to rate students. Full Story
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Lawyers working for the Turkish government plan to file a complaint with the Texas Education Agency next week against Houston-based Harmony Public Schools, alleging financial malfeasance and other misconduct, school officials said. Full Story
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Three state attorneys general are asking the federal government for clarification of its recent directive to accommodate transgender students or risk losing federal funding. Full Story
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Check out the full video of our May 17 conversation with Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. Full Story
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Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Tuesday praised the state Supreme Court's recent opinion upholding the state’s public school funding system and demurred on questions about bathroom use by transgender students. Full Story
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Citing problems with the administration of this spring's STAAR exams, the head of the Texas Association of School Administrators says that 2016 STAAR scores shouldn't be used to rate schools or determine whether a student should graduate or advance to the next grade. Full Story
A teacher group filed a lawsuit Wednesday in an attempt to block the state from implementing a controversial system that for the first time ties assessments of educators to student performance on standardized tests. Full Story
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Three of the five key hires announced Thursday by Education Commissioner Mike Morath have extensive charter school experience, and only two appear to have solid Texas ties — something teacher groups and traditional public schools were quick to point out. Full Story
Technical issues last week that caused students to lose their answers on state standardized exams impacted about 14,220 computerized tests, Commissioner Mike Morath told the State Board of Education on Wednesday. Full Story
At our 1/22 symposium on urban public education, I talked accountability, demographic change, school choice and school finance with Mike Morath, the state's new commissioner of education. Full Story
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Olfen Independent School District, one of the smallest districts in Texas, will transition to a four-day school week in August — the first of its kind in the state. Full Story
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In a wide-ranging interview with The Texas Tribune, new Education Commissioner Mike Morath said he wants to better support teachers, develop a fair school accountability system and help struggling schools. Full Story
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