 |
| Search |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accountability/Accreditation
Robert Scott on 'perversion' of testing in education
It is huge when Education Commissioner Robert Scott says that focus on high-stakes testing is a "perversion" of what policymakers had intended. It's also huge when governor's hand-picked education chief gets into a war of words with TAB chief Bill Hammond over testing and Sen. Florence Shapiro demands an explanation. But do you not agree with Scott, a guy's who's been pro-accountability and working at the pleasure of a pro-accountability governor?
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:40
Testing has become a 'perversion,' Texas education chief Robert Scott says
In a span of just five days, Scott spoke out twice, very publicly, about the "perversion" that testing has become. He said many people now see state testing as a symbol of what's wrong with public schools, "the heart of the vampire." Summoning his inner Ike Eisenhower, he said businesses that have sprung up to design, prepare and score tests and provide other services related to them are "not just a cottage industry but a military-industrial complex."
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:39
Furor Over Testing Excesses Shows No Letup
Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott has kept the pot boiling this week on the issue of standardized testing and its excesses. Echoing remarks he made last week at the State Board of Education, the commissioner yesterday told a gathering of superintendents in Austin that the current testing system is a “perversion” of the original ideas behind the state’s accountability system.
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:38
Let's make new exams fair for students and schools
As parents who support the public schools and demand high educational standards from our children and our schools, we take issue with Bill Hammond's recent opinion piece about the new Texas STAAR accountability program. In this first year of administration, our 9th grade students are being held accountable for state-issued end-of-course, or EOC, exams - as part of their class grades and in their grade point averages on their report cards and transcripts.
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:37
Abilene, Big Country educators say state may be 'over-testing' students
Abilene and other Big Country educators believe Texas may be "over-testing" its public school students.
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:35
North Forest appeals closure as another district gets saved
Leaders of North Forest ISD, who are fighting to save the school district from closure in July, may find hope 300 miles south, in the small town of Premont.
Like North Forest, the Premont Independent School District was under orders from Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott to shut down this summer. Scott recently cut a deal with Premont, granting the district another year to improve.
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:35
Mexia ISD letter stirs controversy
MEXIA - A letter citing poor test scores of African American students in one Mexia ISD school has a number of parents upset.
Karen Primm's daughter is a fifth grade student at R.Q. Sims Intermediate School in Mexia. Primm remembers the day in mid-January when her 11 year-old brought home the letter and started asking questions.
[ View Article ]
Feb 3, 2012, 08:20
Bill Hammond Texas Association of Business Posts Full Page Ad Responding to Commissioner Scott Speech
The Bill Hammond - Full Page ad can be found here -(pdf download) from the Quorum Report
Feb 2, 2012, 08:40
Texas Schools Chief: Testing Has Gone Too Far
Scott said today that if he had the authority — which he said he doesn't — he would waive the 15-percent requirement in the first year as students adjusted to the test.
-Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott said today that the state testing system has become a "perversion of its original intent" and that he was looking forward to "reeling it back in." Addressing 4,000 school officials at the Texas Association of School Administrators' annual midwinter conference, Scott said that he believed testing was "good for some things," but that in Texas it has gone too far. He said that he was frustrated with what he saw as his "complicitness" in the bureaucracy that testing and accountability systems have thrust on schools.
[ View Article ]
Feb 2, 2012, 08:39
Byers board OKs plan
Byers Independent School District trustees approved a proposed consolidation agreement between Byers and Petrolia school districts Tuesday night as presented by attorney Cheryl Mehl, leaving Petrolia ISD to make the next move.
[ View Article ]
Feb 2, 2012, 08:36
How Race to the Top is like ‘Queen for a Day’
How wonderful it was when we were told that Georgia had won the second round of the Race to the Top sweepstakes. The application -- submitted by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue and his team and amended from the first application, which was almost but not quite good enough -- had been successful in conducting a survey that nobody remembered taking AND in meeting the U.S. Education Department guidelines. And our lucky state was about to receive $400 million dollars and a little change.
[ View Article ]
Feb 2, 2012, 08:11
Grading Texas science classes
We get a C. Texas public school science courses “pay lip service” to critical content and largely ignore evolution in the middle grades, according to a national education foundation study that gives the state of Texas an overall “C” for science education.
[ View Article ]
Feb 2, 2012, 07:50
New look, not new book: New tests, same text books
With the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test launching in March as the more rigorous education standard, it wasn't a surprise that a new math curriculum would be following on its heels.
However, the Texas Board of Education's preliminary approval for new math standards in all grades Friday could hit a snag as an estimated $350 million would be needed to fund the new textbooks.
[ View Article ]
Feb 1, 2012, 08:37
Lubbock: School districts are using meetings to help educate parents about STAAR
The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests are bringing big changes to Texas, and local school districts are scheduling meetings to help explain STAAR to parents.
The Lubbock, Frenship, Lubbock-Cooper and Roosevelt independent school districts are planning informational meetings for parents throughout the month.
[ View Article ]
Feb 1, 2012, 08:20
Abilene ISD's STAAR parent meetings start Monday
The Abilene ISD will provide four hourlong informational meetings for parents of current eighth- and ninth-graders to discuss the upcoming State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) end-of-course assessment tests starting Monday.
[ View Article ]
Feb 1, 2012, 08:10
Killeen school district offers career paths
Killeen High School's cafeteria was packed with students who showed up to hear a presentation about what the Killeen Independent School District's new Career Center will offer them next year.
[ View Article ]
Feb 1, 2012, 07:30
|
|
Our Sponsors
|
