The Texas Education agency plans to release school accountability ratings for every campus in the state on Friday. For the second year, the rankings will be filtered through the controversial Texas Projection Measure, which critics fault for inflating the school scores.
Texas Education Agency
Posted in
Public Education
Texas Schools Have a Math Problem
A new study suggests that while the state’s English curriculum is among the best in the nation, our math curriculum doesn’t measure up to a set of new national standards. Matt Largey of KUT News reports.
Posted in
Demographics
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 37
In this week’s TribCast, Ross, Elise, Ben and Brandi discuss the issues framing Texas politics this week — education, immigration and campaign finance numbers.
Posted inState Government
TribBlog: TEA’s Scott “Happy to Scrap” Projection Measure [Updated]
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott has been taking heat for ducking questions from reporters and a legislator regarding the Texas Projection Measure, the magic formula that last year suddenly moved thousands of Texas schools into higher state rating categories with little underlying achievement gain by students. He finally took questions from the Tribune, walking a fine line between defending the formula’s much-maligned statistical validity and saying it wasn’t his idea in the first place and, as he put it, “I’m happy to scrap it” if legislators and other critics have a big problem with it.
Posted in
State Government
Faking the Grade
Last school year, the Texas Education Agency implemented a new “growth measure” purported to reward schools for improving student performance — even if they still fail state tests. The effect on state accountability ratings was immediate and dramatic: The number of campuses considered “exemplary” by the state doubled, to 2,158. But a new analysis shows the projections of future student success may be wrong as much as half the time.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: Failing at Fitness
Less than a third of the state’s 3rd-to-12th-grade students can pass a physical fitness test — and that’s an improvement.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Special Needs in Need
The Senate Committee on Education got a painful preview today of the problems in special education that they’ll have to tackle during the 2011 legislative session.
Posted in
Politics
The Big Hungry
Texas’ participation in the federally funded summer food service program is dismally low compared to the national average — meaning only a small percentage of the state’s 2.5 million low-income kids are getting free meals.
Posted inState Government
The Texas Grade Inflation Agency?
A published report Tuesday highlighted concerns over whether the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test, the standardized exam for the state’s public school students, is rigorous enough. Nathan Bernier of KUT News talked to Houston Chronicle reporter Ericka Mellon, whose analysis of Texas Education Agency data found that the TEA lowered its passing standards more this year than it did at least over the last two years.
Posted in
State Government
The Brief: June 8, 2010
Efforts to contain the oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico finally seem to be making headway, but the government is now warning that the remaining slick may have a mind of its own.
