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The latest education news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Talking Back to the Feds

    By Brian Thevenot

    "Teachers should be chasing us around," the Texas high school senior told the official from the U.S. Department of Education. "We shouldn't be chasing them. But that doesn't always happen here." Full Story 

    Students Arturo Garcia and Chris Conway listen to a U.S. Department of Education representative describe a grant program targeting low-performing schools like theirs, Reagan High School in East Austin. The money is tied to major overhauls and replacement of staff.
    Credit: Brian Thevenot

  • The Old College Try

    By Brian Thevenot

    Since 1999, the number of "dual-credit" students — those who take college courses while still in high school — across Texas has ballooned from fewer than 12,000 to more than 91,000. It's a trend that's likely to continue as state and local policymakers search for ways to better align curricula and to push more kids to continue their education. “Schools have started to look at it as great for kids who might not have thought they were college material,” says an official at the Higher Education Coordinating Board. “It’s both a gifted-and-talented program and a college-accessibility program.” Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • The Firing Line

    By Brian Thevenot

    After years of fiddling with merit-pay schemes, the Houston ISD is tying student test scores to the decision to ax teachers. Not surprisingly, the move — on the cutting edge of reforms nationally — has teachers howling in protest. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • State of the Union

    By Brian Thevenot

    Battle-hardened Houston union chief Gayle Fallon argues HISD's new policy to fire teachers over test scores will make its top talent avoid its toughest assignments. Full Story 

  • For Their Own Good

    By Brian Thevenot

    With a new policy of firing teachers whose students fail to improve, Houston ISD is "is without a doubt the most data-driven district not just in the state, but in the country,” says school board president Greg Meyers. Full Story 

  • Day Care Danger

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The Texas Workforce Commission spent nearly $50 million during the last two years on day care centers and in-home childcare providers with troubled track records — including sexual and physical abuse, kidnapping, and leaving infants to suffocate and die in their cribs. A Texas Tribune review found that at least 135 subsidized facilities had their licenses revoked or denied by the Department of Family and Protective Services in 2008 and 2009 and had their funding immediately suspended. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Hu, Philpott, and Ramsey on the Democratic gubernatorial debate, the pre-game, the post-game, and the highlight reel. Thevenot on the push for accountability in persistently low-performing schools. M. Smith on the Republican assault on sitting Republican appellate judge. Hamilton on a county with more than one Tea Party trying to claim conservative voters. With lawmakers staring down a growing budget crunch, Aguilar looks back at the last one for instruction. Grissom finds that U.S. Border Patrol has quietly stopped a program to deport illegal immigrants through Presidio. Ramshaw reports on a West Texas nurse who got into and out of criminal trouble for complaining about a doctor she worked with. The second University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll finds Rick Perry and Bill White with big leads in their respective party primaries. Rapoport found herself in the eye of the storm, traveling with Debra Medina on the day the candidate unexpectedly and disastrously made national news when Glenn Beck asked her on his radio shows about the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. The best of our best from February 8 to 12, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Tom Leppert: The TT Interview

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The Dallas mayor left a hugely successful private sector career to lead the country’s ninth-largest city through an economic meltdown and the aftermath of a City Hall corruption scandal. And he doesn’t regret a minute of it. Here, he talks about fighting a sky-high crime rate, how he keeps party politics from his office, and every urban area's Achilles' heel: education. Full Story 

    Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert

  • Reform Follows Function

    By Brian Thevenot

    The federal push for accountability at "persistently low-achieving" schools across Texas is running smack into the hard, slow work of improvement at the local level. Full Story 

    Use our data app to find "persistently lowest performing" schools in Texas.
    Credit: Matt Stiles

  • Heir Apparent

    By Emily Ramshaw

    State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, dropped her reelection bid on Wednesday to plead guilty to lying on a tax return. But it's too early for Eric Johnson, her West Dallas-born, Ivy League-educated primary opponent, to claim victory. Full Story 

    Democrat Eric Johnson campaigns to replace incumbent Dallas Rep. Terri Hodge in House District 100. Hodge has pleaded guilty to lying on her tax return.
    Credit: Eric Johnson campaign

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    The death penalty and DNA testing in a 16-year-old triple murder in the Texas Panhandle. The second debate between the three Republican candidates for governor. Charter schools are having a hard time hanging on to the employees that matter the most: Teachers. The possibilities and perils of a switch to electronic medical records. A rundown of top races. Who's giving to candidates, and how much? Social networks and politicians. Ballots: The slow reveal. And a new and highly requested feature makes its debut. The best of our best from January 23 to 29, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Charter Churn

    By Brian Thevenot

    Teachers quit Texas charter schools at nearly three times the rate of traditional public school districts, according to state data. Dozens of individual schools lost well over half their teachers in the latest year. Full Story 

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