Claycomb Associates, Architects

Coppell ISD has changed how it identifies and serves students with dyslexia. Stephanie Flores, executive director for intervention services, informed the board of trustees on the status of the district’s special education enrollment and related changes in dyslexia services at a Jan. 22 meeting. view article arw

The Austin school district has processed all overdue special education evaluations from before the 2023-24 school year, state-appointed monitors told school board members during a recent meeting. Clearing the backlog, which has crippled the district's special education services for years, is only one item on a list of mandates the state handed down related to the handling of the embattled department. The district in September agreed to meet the state's requirements, including curing the delayed evaluations. While the state monitors applauded the district’s backlog clearing as a major achievement, the district clarified Monday it still needs to complete overdue evaluations from the 2023-24 school year. view article arw

The status quo for in-service teachers — low-stakes assessments & rigid single-salary schedules — needs to change if student outcomes are to improve.  The publication of A Nation at Risk (ANAR) in 1983 was the defining moment of the “first wave” of education reform. It articulated improbably long-lived insights that continue to define education policy and discourse to this day. In particular, ANAR underscored, with uncommon rhetorical flourishes, the contrast between the ambitious ideals of a “Learning Society” and existing educational standards defined by modest minimum requirements, such as the low expectations embedded in high schools’ minimum competency tests and “cafeteria-style” curricula. Clearly, ANAR’s most prominent recommendation was the adoption of high school graduation requirements grounded in a “New Basics” curriculum that would feature four years of English; three years of science, math, and social studies; a half year of computer science; and, for college-bound students, two years of foreign language instruction. view article arw

AUSTIN, TX - February 12, 2024 – The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has notified the Marlin Independent School District (MISD) that the transition of district governance from the appointed Board of Managers to the elected Board of Trustees has been initiated. As part of the transition process, two elected Board of Trustee members will reassume their governance authority and become part of the Board of Managers. In a letter to Marlin ISD Superintendent Dr. Darryl Henson, members of the current MISD Board of Managers, and elected Board of Trustees, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath selected Billy Johnson and Rosalyn Dimerson as the first two elected trustees to join the Board. Johnson and Dimerson will join the three-member Board of Managers to create a five-member governing board. view article arw

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) informed Marlin ISD that the transition of district governance from an appointed board of managers to an elected board of trustees has been started. As part of the transition, two elected Board of Trustee members will become part of the Marlin ISD Board of Managers. A letter was sent to Marlin ISD Superintendent Dr. Darryl Henson informing him that current members of the Marlin ISD Board of Managers, elected Marlin ISD Board of Trustees and Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath selected Billy Johnson and Rosalyn Dimerson as the first two elected trustees to join the Marlin ISD Board of Managers. view article arw

Austin ISD has completed all 1,159 special education evaluations that were overdue from the 2022-2023 school year, state-appointed monitors said. The completion is an important milestone in the district's effort to improve services for students with disabilities. “I’m so happy to report that the backlog of evaluations has been cleared," Lesa Shocklee said. "And the compensatory services for those delayed evaluations and eligibility determinations — all of the compensatory services — have been discussed and determined." view article arw

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) informed Marlin ISD that the transition of district governance from an appointed board of managers to an elected board of trustees has been started. As part of the transition, two elected Board of Trustee members will become part of the Marlin ISD Board of Managers. view article arw

Test results have gone up since the pandemic in both subjects, but math scores are still below 2019 levels and about half of Texas students read below the level appropriate for most children in their grade.  Student scores in the state’s standardized test have continued to improve since the pandemic, but more than half of Texas students are still struggling with math and about a half of them are below grade-level reading, according to score data from this spring released Wednesday. view article arw

Texas will likely add jobs at a slower pace in 2024 after years of robust employment growth, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Friday. The state will add nearly 284,000 jobs this year, a 2% increase from 2023, the Dallas Fed projects — a pace that’s in line with the state’s job growth rate before COVID-19 hit and the state’s economy kicked into overdrive. By year’s end, Texas employment will hit 14.4 million jobs. By contrast, Texas added about 427,000 jobs in 2022 at a pace of 3.1% — the result of a rapidly growing labor force fueled by strong domestic and international migration. “We're cleared for landing, landing back to our long run trend rate of growth,” Pia Orrenius, Dallas Fed vice president and senior economist, said Friday. view article arw

Black students and students over 24 are less likely to get their bachelor’s degree after transferring, the report found.  Most Texas community college students who transfer to a four-year university don’t graduate, according to a report on college transfers released Wednesday.  The study from the Community College Research Center and Aspen Institute found that only 45% of students in Texas who go on to a four-year college get a bachelor's degree within six years. Black and adult students struggle even more after they transfer out of a community college, with just 33% and 37% completing their bachelor’s degree, respectively. view article arw

GISD Superintendent Devin Padavil will give a State of the District address from noon-2 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Hammerlun Center for Leadership and Learning, located at 507 E. University Ave., Georgetown. The address will highlight teaching and learning in the district, as well as lay out a road map for the district's future, according to the district. The event will also feature showcases of student and staff work throughout the district, including academics, career and technical education, as well as fine arts. view article arw

Houston ISD state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles announced Friday that he will tighten the district’s budget to pay to add 19 campuses into his New Education System program in the 2024-25 school year after opting in. Miles said in late January that the 24 schools that earned a high D under the unofficial Texas Education Agency campus accountability ratings would be able to choose if they wanted to become an NES school, and he originally said the district would accept only up to 14 of them into the program due to budgetary concerns. Miles said 19 eligible campuses ultimately opted in and they will all be joining the program during the upcoming school year. That will put the district’s number of NES campuses at 130, nearly half of all HISD campuses. view article arw

Houston Independent School District state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles announced Friday the additional 19 campuses that will be added to the district’s New Education System model Friday afternoon. view article arw

A special school board meeting here ushered in a new era as a TEA-appointed school board and acting superintendent were welcomed to the district through public comments. The board then voted on employment and a relocation agreement for acting superintendent Marcey Sorensen. view article arw

A new trustee was appointed to the Harlandale Independent School District Board of Trustees last week at the direction of Judy Castleberry, a conservator appointed by the state to oversee the district in 2020. Erica Salazar, a former school district administrator that now works for a real estate company, was named to the seat. The district 2 seat was left vacant at the start of the year after Christine Carrillo resigned following an arrest for being accused of physically assaulting her husband. view article arw

According to a district news release, the fair will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the GCISD Professional Development and Education Center located at 5800 Colleyville Blvd. in Colleyville. It is a free event that provides families and individuals with disabilities of all ages with resources. The news release states resources available at the fair include: view article arw

Education advocates who for four years have worked to create a Texas course covering Native American history and culture hope a recent delay in the state approval process won't prevent districts from offering the class this fall. Those involved in creating the proposed course spoke out Friday before the State Board of Education, the agency that would give it final approval, over worries that delaying the course's adoption could postpone when districts offer the class. Board members, however, noted that the delay was only procedural and meant to provide more time for ample review of the new class. view article arw

Four civil rights groups filed a federal complaint on Tuesday accusing the municipal court and public school district of the northeast Texas town of Bonham of unfairly penalizing Black and disabled students for behavior complaints by pushing them out of schools and sometimes into the county jail. The four groups — Disability Rights Texas, Texas Appleseed, Texas Civil Rights Project, and the National Center for Youth Law — have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to require the district to compensate specifically harmed students for damages, as well as modify its absence guidelines and implement bias training for both court and school employees. view article arw

HOUSTON, Texas — Commissioner of Education Mike Morath got a tour alongside Superintendent Mike Miles, the man he appointed to turn Houston ISD around during Morath's first visit to the district since state intervention began. "What was really heartening to see is the quality of instruction, the quality of rigor in the schools I was able to visit today,” said Morath. view article arw

The Houston Chronicle reports an acceleration in principal turnover since the state took over control of the Houston Independent School District and placed non-educator Mike Miles in charge. The principals of nearly 60 schools have resigned or been removed. A military man, Miles was “trained” by the Broad Superintendents Academy. He is imposing standardized curriculum and instruction across the schools he directly controls (called the “New Education System”). Even the principal of an A-rated school lost his job. view article arw

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath visited the Houston Independent School District on Tuesday, making it the first time he set foot on a campus after announcing a state takeover of the district. ABC13 spoke with Morath as he toured Kashmere High School. Kashmere is one of the first 28 schools to implement state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles' "New Education System." The reform program is intended to improve test scores. Thus far, it has. NES students showed improvement on both STARR and NWEA exams. view article arw

For the first time since he announced the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District nearly a year ago, Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath visited campuses during instruction on Tuesday. "I, of course, have visited Houston schools many times over the years, and what you can see is really a night-and-day difference in terms of the degree to which students are engaged in rigorous academic discussions," Morath said during a press conference after his visit. "It was really a holistic educational experience with joy and love and all of the zest for life that you want to see in schools." view article arw

The TEA appointed a “board of managers” to replace the district’s school board trustees and named a new superintendent.  The Texas Education Agency removed La Joya Independent School District’s democratically-elected school board and appointed a new superintendent after investigating the district’s previous leadership for allegations of fraud and conflicts of interest, the agency said Thursday.  The TEA said it named seven Hidalgo County residents to replace the previous school board and temporarily serve as a “board of managers” for La Joya ISD, a district of about 24,000 students in the Rio Grande Valley.  The agency also appointed Marcey Sorensen as the new superintendent. While the TEA was only required to change the district’s school board, the agency said it decided to place a new superintendent to ensure productive leadership moving forward. view article arw

ARP — Television personality Tim Gunn once said there are few activities "as delightful as learning new vocabulary." Thanks to the efforts of Arp High School’s Spanish teacher Anjee Deards, students at Arp High School have mastered 44,275 words — a feat that named them not only state champions in Texas but national runners-up their division in the 9th Vocabulary Bowl. The biannual competition brings together K-12 schools across the United States and Canada to showcase their vocab and literacy skills. view article arw

24 Houston ISD schools have the option to apply for the New Education System, the sweeping reform program created by state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles. By August, NES could expand to, at most, 125 schools — almost half the district. view article arw

The kindergartners at St. Louis’s KIPP Wisdom Academy stood with their hands apart and palms up, facing a whiteboard festooned with rows of vowels and consonants.   Their teacher, Sonya Taylor, was leading a lesson designed to help them recognize sound and letter patterns. In a piping, resonant voice — she stretches it out Sundays as a si  Say ‘rub, tribe, scrub’!”  view article arw

The Texas Education Agency selected a new superintendent and board for the La Joya Independent School District on Thursday after concluding the district had a “significant problem with public corruption.” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced the move — an extraordinary step reserved for school districts with serious problems — on Thursday morning. view article arw

In the coming years, parents of students in the Fort Worth Independent School District will see a change in their children's report cards. Instead of using the traditional percentage and letter grade, the district is planning to switch to a new "standards-based" grading model that shows parents how students are performing against state standards instead of a raw percentage for each subject. Fort Worth ISD officials told WFAA the changes were being phased through in three stages: view article arw

At Love Elementary in the Heights area of Houston's Northside, parents filled the cafeteria on Thursday, Jan. 25 to hear administrators pitch the New Education System (NES). Love is among 24 Houston ISD campuses that would have performed poorly on the Texas Education Agency's revamped accountability system and now have the option to apply for the NES reform program — but most folks at Love weren't very interested in the pitch. view article arw

Accountability ratings for the 2022-2023 school year that would normally be released by the Texas Education Agency remain unavailable thanks to a lawsuit filed by over 120 school districts in 2023, Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde said in a district meeting in January. view article arw

The mood was celebratory at Del Valle High School’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School when district officials and Tesla workers stood in front of students and discussed how the school's future workforce could launch a career at the electric car company. Tesla donated $600,000 to the school to purchase equipment to instruct students on how to build and work on electric vehicles — skills Del Valle graduates can use for a future job at the car company or other industries, district officials said. The equipment will open up new learning opportunities for students, said Annette Tielle, Del Valle superintendent, during Thursday’s event announcing the donation. view article arw

HOUSTON (CITC) — A Texas school district is facing backlash over a middle school lesson plan asking students to determine whether "slavery" should be "legal." The lesson plan was designed to teach seventh graders in the Houston Independent School District (Houston ISD) about the Convention of 1836. Students are asked to select "solutions" for various issues, with one issue being "should slavery be legal in Texas?," according to a copy obtained by Houston Public Media. view article arw

TEA releases annual report for 2023

January 3008:42 AM
 

AUSTIN The Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced Jan. 29 the release of the Annual Report for 2023. The report provides a detailed overview of the state of public education in Texas, highlighting the initiatives and collaborative efforts that help ensure every student receives a high-quality education. The report also illustrates the progress and achievements taking place in public school systems across Texas. “I’m fortunate to see firsthand the remarkable efforts of dedicated teachers across our state, who work exceptionally hard to ensure every child, in every classroom, has the opportunity to thrive and succeed,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a news release. “As we strive to fulfill our mission of preparing students for life beyond the classroom, our annual report serves as a tool to assess the progress of Texas and identify areas where continued resource investments are necessary to ensure all Texas students have access to a quality education that prepares them the future.” view article arw

The Army is tossing its mandate for potential recruits to have a high school diploma or GED certificate to enlist in the service, in one of the most dramatic moves yet in the escalating recruiting crisis hitting the entire Defense Department. On Thursday, the service announced that individuals may enlist without those previously required education certifications if they ship to basic training this fiscal year, which ends Oct. 1. view article arw

Children At Risk, an education research and advocacy nonprofit, releases annual rankings aimed at helping parents, educators and community members understand how schools are performing and where improvements may be needed. The nonprofit has been ranking Texas public schools for nearly 20 years, primarily using student performance on state math and reading tests, as well as high school achievement data. For elementary and middle schools, Children At Risk assigns rankings using three metrics from each campuses' STAAR scores: raw student achievement, achievement relative to poverty levels, and year-over-year student growth. High schools are also ranked on a fourth metric of college readiness, which evaluates how well schools are preparing their students for college. view article arw