The new guidance will allow for remote learning for up to 20 days for students who are sick with COVID-19 or have been exposed to it.
Texas Education Agency
Posted in
Health care
With school openings near, parents and teachers say state leaders have stripped them of weapons against COVID-19
Public health experts and medical professionals are sounding the alarm over the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19. The governor has stood firm on his ban against masking mandates in schools.
Posted in
Public Education
Pandemic shifts balance in long-running debate over the best way to teach children to read
For years, educators have disagreed over the most effective method for teaching reading. In Texas, one side thinks remote learning during the pandemic has strengthened its argument in the Reading Wars.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
Texas educators worry bill limiting the teaching of current events and historic racism would “whitewash history”
Texas educators say they’re concerned they won’t be able to have open conversations about what’s happening in the world if the Texas Legislature approves a bill that restricts how teachers can discuss current events in the classroom.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
Democrat revives Texas bill restricting transgender students’ sports participation in apparent act of retaliation against his party
The bill previously lacked the votes to advance out of House committee. After House Democrats spiked one of his bills, Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, revived it.
Posted in
Point of Order
Point of Order: What we learned from a year of disruption to public education in Texas
In the latest episode of our podcast about the Texas Legislature, Evan Smith talks to LaTonya Goffney, the superintendent of Aldine Independent School District, about public education’s disrupted year — pivoting online, learning loss, budget woes, and what it will take to put the whole thing back together by fall.
Posted in
Public Education
Congressional Democrats condemn Abbott for not releasing billions in federal stimulus dollars intended for Texas public schools
As Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders continue to delay the arrival of billions in education stimulus funding for Texas schools, Texas Democrats in Congress asked the Department of Education to pressure the state to send federal funds to schools as quickly as possible.
Posted in
Public Education
Austin ISD risks losing $5 million in state funding if more students don’t attend final weeks of school in person
Earlier this school year, the Texas Education Agency established guidelines that each school district must follow to qualify for the state’s hold harmless funding. Some districts, like Austin, are now at risk of losing funds.
Posted in
Public Education
STAAR testing adds pressure to final weeks as frantic Texas school year nears end
In an academic year scrambled by the pandemic and a deadly winter storm, Texas school students face makeup work and rounds of standardized testing. Many parents and teachers say it’s unnecessary.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Technical difficulties hampered the STAAR test. One Austin teacher called it a sign.
Patty Young, a middle school language arts teacher, says the state assessments are causing kids unnecessary stress. Listen in the weekend edition of The Brief podcast.
