At the 2012 Texas Tribune Festival, I talked about standardized testing and accountability in public education with Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams, Carolyn Heinrich of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, former Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken and Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business.
Public Education
Explore The Texas Tribune’s coverage of public education, from K-12 schools and funding to teachers, students, and policies shaping classrooms across Texas.
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Public Education
Select Texas Districts Aim to Pilot Testing Reforms
Thanks to a new law, a consortium of school districts could offer a new way forward as policymakers address the increasingly heated opposition to the state’s high-stakes standardized test-based accountability system.
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Public Education
Schools Turn to Parents’ Dollars for Support
Parents are opening their pocketbooks to fund everything from outdoor classrooms to extra teaching positions in public schools when state and district money falls short. But the influx of private dollars concerns civil rights advocates who say it only exacerbates existing inequities in the public school system.
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Public Education
Abbott Weighs In on School’s Bible Verse Controversy
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has stepped into what has become a national headline-grabbing controversy over cheerleaders at an East Texas school displaying Bible verses at football games.
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Public Education
TribuneFest: A Conversation with Four Superintendents
At the unofficial kickoff of the 2012 Texas Tribune Festival, I talked with the superintendents of the Corpus Christi, Harlingen, Houston and Northwest school districts about the state of public education.
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Public Education
Report Examines How Budget Cuts Affected Texas Schools
A coalition of nonprofit foundations and the Houston-based advocacy organization Children at Risk have released the initial findings of their comprehensive report on how the 2011 budget cuts have affected public schools.
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Public Education
Guest Column: Schools Should Offer Multiple Paths
Public schools should spend less time on testing and on a one-size-fits-all approach to education. Not all students want or need to go to college.
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Higher Education
Guest Column: Schools and the Talent Shortage
The manufacturing sector is short of skilled workers, and many of those jobs will go to students who don’t have four-year college degrees — and who don’t need them.
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Public Education
Texas SAT Scores Drop, but Participation Rates Surge
More black and Hispanic students in Texas are taking the SAT, but they aren’t doing as well, according to a report released Monday by the Texas Education Agency.
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Higher Education
Liveblog: Public & Higher Education at The Texas Tribune Festival
We’re liveblogging this weekend from The Texas Tribune Festival’s Public & Higher Education track, which includes panels on the future of school finance, standardized testing, the emerging Hispanic majority and the upcoming legislative session.