Educational Policy, Ethics, & Leadership

Texas Ranks 35th in HS Graduation Rates

A new report shows that Texas is trailing the national average in its graduation rate, and that the Texas Education Agency numbers paint a far rosier picture than the reality.

San Antonio Express-News coverage is here.

Texas' high school graduation rate is below the national average and vastly lower than the Texas Education Agency has reported, according to an analysis released Tuesday by Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center.

For the 2002-03 school year, Texas had a graduation rate of 66.8 percent, compared with the national average of 69.6 percent, according to the report "Diplomas Count: An Essential Guide to Graduation Policy and Rates."

For the same year, TEA reported an 84 percent graduation rate, a difference of just over 17 percentage points.

Houston Chronicle Coverage is here.

Texas students are 20 percent more likely to live in poverty and 60 percent more likely to be English-language learners than national averages, according to the report.

The study, Diplomas Count, shows that 1.2 million U.S. students failed to graduate with their classmates in 2006.

Texas is one of 23 states that requires high school seniors to pass a standardized test before graduating.

Special Ed Inequities

The Austin American-Statesman reports that minorities are over-represented in special education referrals in AISD, and under-represented in advanced placement courses.  LINK

A 13-member city and school district task force, tapped to examine educational issues affecting African Americans, recently issued recommendations for improving Austin's special education services. The task force found that among persistent achievement gaps, African American students had low participation rates in advanced courses and high rates of referral to disciplinary and special education programs. The conclusions about African American students, who make up about 13 percent of Austin students overall but 20 percent of special education students, reflect decades-long historical patterns and national trends, education experts say.

Overrepresentation occurs in part because teachers are inadequately trained to differentiate between struggling learners and those with disorders, the experts say. Lowered expectations among teachers regarding minority students' abilities and a cultural disconnect among teachers who may not come from the communities they serve also contribute to inflated referrals, they say.

UTSA to Tutor Young Students

Also in today's Express-News is a report the University of Texas at San Antonio College of Education and Human Development will tutor young students, ages 4-8, this summer.  LINK 

The language, reading and writing sessions are offered through the department's Reading Place.

Classes meet at the downtown campus and are free and open to the public.

Sessions run July 17 through Aug. 1. Applications must be submitted by June 30.

For more information or to apply, call (210) 458-2649.

Accurate Figures Essential to Fight Dropout Problem

That's the title of an editorial in the San Antonio Express-News bemoaning the lack of accurate numbers.  LINK

There is no magic formula to solve the dropout problem, but having the best available data — information that does not distort the picture or spin the statistics — is crucial.

The National Governors Association recognizes the problem. Last summer, the governors supported a uniform standard for measuring high school graduation rates.

It is in everyone's best interest for those plans to be put into action as soon as possible.

More on Question of TAKS Cheating

Associated Press is reporting that bonuses for teachers at 14 schools are on hold while officials look at testing results and whether cheating helped boost scores.  LINK

 

Teacher bonuses planned at 14 low-income schools that improved scores on the state's standardized test are being withheld while the state investigates whether cheating contributed to the higher marks.

The bonuses, which range from $2,000 to $10,000, were put on hold by the Texas Education Agency after the schools were among 609 campuses flagged as having "unusual or unexpected patterns" in the test results.

A private company the state hired to analyze the scores said those patterns may suggest that students or teachers were cheating on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

Honoring Teachers

Today's Houston Chronicle reports on philanthropy that rewards teachers.  LINK

Houston philanthropists Nancy and Richard Kinder awarded $100,000 to Denver kindergarten teacher Linda Alston on Tuesday in what's thought to be one of the largest unrestricted prizes for a public school teacher in U.S. history.

Alston, a 20-year teaching veteran, beat out 400 other teachers nominated for the award, partly because she has fresh flowers waiting for her children every morning and rewards well-behaved youngsters with afternoon tea parties, said Nancy Kinder, president of the Kinder family's nonprofit foundation. Richard Kinder runs Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc., an energy transportation and storage company.

And:

The $100,000 prize is four times the amount given by the better-known Milken Family Foundation, which annually writes $25,000 checks to as many as 100 U.S. teachers. More than 2,100 teachers have received Milken Family prizes since the first were handed out in 1987.

Slow Rush to TAKS Judgement

That's the title of an editorial in today's San Antonio Express-News about concerns that there may have been wide ranging cheating on the recent TAKS test.  LINK

The Texas Education Agency's release last week of a list of 609 campuses across the state, including 19 in Bexar County, flagged for irregularities on the latest round of tests created a stir among educators and parents.

It is important to keep in mind that no has been accused of cheating — at least not yet.

The list was released so school districts could conduct their own investigations into test scores a private contractor found questionable.

Is There Cheating on TAKS

Today's Austin American-Statesman has an editorial calling on the Texas Education Commissioner to investigate.  LINK

Plenty of experts have warned against using standardized tests improperly, as Texas does. Achievement tests, they assert, are better used as barometers to signal whether students are making academic progress and learning basic skills, or if they are deficient in certain areas.

In Texas, the tests — given to public school students in grades three through 11— determine who gets promoted and graduates from high school. Perhaps that explains why those taking the 11th-grade TAKS were nearly eight times more likely to cheat than those in other grades, according to the Caveon analysis.

In Texas, third- and fifth-graders also are required to pass the TAKS to be promoted. Next year, eighth-graders will have to pass to reach ninth grade.

For years, teachers have pointed out that public schools spend an inordinate amount of time instructing students on test-taking methods and on skills needed to pass the exam. That has narrowed the curriculum. The state threw out its former achievement test (TAAS) several years ago amid allegations that it was inflating passing scores because it was too easy.

Houston ISD Changes Cell Phone Policy

Houston ISD changed its policy to give individual schools more latitude in how they deal with cell phones in the classroom.  LINK

"What we've seen with the use of cell phones is it's made principals and teachers equally miserable," said Gayle Fallon, head of the Houston Federation of Teachers. Students have used cell phones to cheat by text-messaging answers or photographing exams.

School committees that will decide cell phone rules at each of Houston's 305 campuses include teachers, administrators and parents who will also set limits on the use of other distracting entertainment devices including MP3 players.

Houston school trustees also toughened policies on dealing with bullies.

Earlier coverage of  the cell phone issue is here.

The Supreme Court and the Affirmative Action Cases

FindLaw.com commentator and law professor Edward Lazarus has a column, "The Supreme Court Grants Review in Two Cases Regarding Public Schools' Use of Race In Pupil Placement - And Thus Confronts the Question of How To Define Brown's Legacy."  LINK

 

This week, the Supreme Court granted review in two cases involving the use of race in pupil placement in public schools. Though the cases themselves hail from Jefferson County, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington, the Court's eventual decisions will directly affect hundreds of other school districts, across the country, that use race in some fashion in determining which students will attend which schools.

The decisions will also go a long way towards revealing whether our newly reconstituted Court will be changing from the moderately conservative course it has charted on race issues for the last two decades. And, as I will explain, they will help define the Court's take on the highly contested legacy of Brown v. Board of Education.