Texas Education Agency

TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

By Evan Smith Nov. 14, 2009

KBH resigns herself to staying in the Senate, Grissom investigates the broken border, Ramshaw outs IT contractors who make gigabucks from state agencies, Hu gives Hutchison and Perry the Stump Interrupted treatment, the new head of the Foresenic Science Commission faces his critics, Stiles posts a searchable database of fines levied by the state ethics commission, and Hamilton discovers the consequences of party switching (none): The best of the best from November 9 to 13, 2009. Full Story

Article thumbnail — Credit: Bob Daemmrich, Elise Hu

Fail-safe?

By Abby Rapoport Nov. 13, 2009

Districts prepare to go to court with the TEA over minimum grades policies, prompting the question: How much should schools emulate the real world? And how many second chances should students get? Full Story

Is Texas in the Race?

By Abby Rapoport Nov. 12, 2009

The federal government is giving away $4.35 billion to state education systems through Race to the Top. But is Texas already out? Full Story

Robert's Rules

By Abby Rapoport and Brian Thevenot Nov. 11, 2009

State schools chief Robert Scott recently failed to get the Legislature to increase the cap on charter schools — then found a legal way to do it anyway, much to the dismay of state Democrats and teachers unions. Full Story

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott — Credit: Elise Hu

TribBlog: A Chip Off the Old Bloc

By Abby Rapoport Nov. 10, 2009

The SBOE's Don McLeroy might miss Rick Agosto more than he thought. Full Story

The Brief: November 10, 2009

By Reeve Hamilton Nov. 10, 2009

If Williamson County DA John Bradley is sick of the spotlight, then he got appointed to the wrong commission. Of course, many people would argue that regardless. Full Story

Texas Reading Exams Fail the National Test

By Abby Rapoport Nov. 9, 2009

Federal officials say Texas' testing standards in reading are below the “basic” proficiency standards — and that low bar means those passing the TAKS may not be as proficient as advertised. Full Story

TribBlog: A Conversation With the State Schools Chief

By Brian Thevenot Nov. 6, 2009

Rather than deliver curriculum by book or even CD — one product per student — “We’re going to buy content and get a statewide license and deliver it to anyone who wants it” over the web, says Robert Scott. Much of that content will come from “smaller content providers who have been shut out of the market.” Full Story

TribBlog: Education Department could make restraint reporting mandatory

By Emily Ramshaw Nov. 6, 2009

The U.S. Education Department is considering making restraint reporting mandatory for school districts nationwide, starting this school year. Full Story

The Tipping Point: Texas Textbook Politics Meets the Digital Revolution

By Brian Thevenot Nov. 6, 2009

Under new legislation, school districts for the first time can spend a portion of state “book” money on computer hardware and digital content. Some fear the explosion of choice will produce an erosion of quality content. Full Story

The World According To Don

By Abby Rapoport Nov. 5, 2009

So what if he's no longer the chair of the State Board of Education? Self-described "religious fanatic" Don McLeroy has big plans for Texas education — and science is just the beginning. Full Story

TribBlog: Restraints in public schools -- by disability

By Emily Ramshaw Nov. 5, 2009

If you've been following this week's series on kids with disabilities being physically restrained in Texas public schools, you may be interested to see how the restraints break down by disability. Full Story

Student restraints, Day 3: Jennifer Howson's story

By Elise Hu and Emily Ramshaw Nov. 5, 2009

Jennifer Howson, 21, was restrained dozens of times at her school in the northeast Texas town of Kemp, often sustaining scrapes, bruises and black eyes. Full Story

TribBlog: Restraints: A gut-wrenching case

By Emily Ramshaw Nov. 5, 2009

Of all the tales of restraints gone wrong I heard while reporting this story on Texas special education students, this one is the worst: Full Story

Faulty figures: The great dropout debate

By Abby Rapoport and Brian Thevenot Nov. 4, 2009

Despite years of research, the true picture of dropout and graduation rates remains elusive, even the subject of cross words between researchers. The consensus: Far too many Texas public school students, particularly those from poor and minority families, don’t cross the high-school finish line. Full Story

Dropout problem drags Texas down

By Abby Rapoport and Brian Thevenot Nov. 4, 2009

“I represent a district that has 80 percent renters, 70 percent of people speaking a first language other than English, where there’s a high school with 42 languages and 40 percent turnover of the student body every year — now tell me how you plan to calculate the dropout rate,” Rep. Scott Hochberg said. “I will stipulate that it’s too big — let’s just start there. I wish we fought over solutions as much as we fight over the number.” Full Story

The 2007-08 graduating class started with more than 370,000 students — and ended with about 237,000, or 64 percent. Not all students dropped out. Some left Texas public school and graduated elsewhere. Researchers argue over how to measure the dropout rate, but they agree on this point: It's way too high, and disproportionately high for Hispanic and black students. — Credit: Jacob Villanueva

Student Restraints Day 2: How Texas school districts compare

By Emily Ramshaw Nov. 4, 2009

Texas school districts vary widely in how often they physically restrain students with disabilities – despite a shared state policy on when to use them. Use this interactive graphic to see how school districts compared during the 2007-08 school year, the most recent statewide data available. Full Story

TribBlog: Mentally ill student who stabbed teacher will stand trial

By Emily Ramshaw Nov. 3, 2009

The Tyler Morning Telegraph is reporting that the 16-year-old Tyler special education student who fatally stabbed his teacher in September (referenced in today's story on restraints) has been found competent to stand trial. Full Story

Disabled students restrained, injured in public schools

By Emily Ramshaw Nov. 2, 2009

Texas educators routinely pin down students with disabilities to control them, according to state data. Disability rights advocates say the restraints point to a crisis in special education, and that teachers are resorting to physical violence because they aren't properly trained. Full Story

Jennifer Howson was restrained dozens of times in her Kemp public school, often sustaining injuries like these. — Credit: Photo courtesy of the Howson family

Texas educators vent at feds over teacher test mess

By Brian Thevenot Oct. 23, 2009

Annoyed at a recent federal ruling that could nullify the credentials of thousands of public school teachers, Texas education advocates want Washington to waive a technicality they say would cause teachers and districts needless headaches. Full Story