An investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools that likely would have violated state laws had the schools been public. view article

In Bellville, a rich German heritage lingers in the last names hanging off storefronts, in the round "Turnverein" dance hall, and in the traditional sausages still sold at its meat market downtown.  For a place so steeped in history — the town was founded by a member of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" — the 4,000-member enclave isn't short on novelty. Before reaching Bellville's medieval-style castle, a traveler passing through from Houston may be surprised not just by the Trump Burger chain's flagship restaurant and Austin County's imposing, Modernist courthouse, but by the innovation coming from within its own public school district.  wEvery Texas district receives an "A-F" rating from the Texas Education Agency each year. Based largely on results from students' State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams, particularly for elementary and middle schools, the ratings can potentially impact a district's reputation, enrollment, and, in cases of state takeovers, its ability to elect its own board leadership. view article

MIDLAND — La’Toya Mayberry is proud of many things.  She’s proud of her family’s West Texas roots. She’s proud of her two daughters, Aniyah and Erinn, two formidably academic athletes who are continuing the family’s basketball legacy.    And five years ago, she was proud of the Midland Independent School District. Its board of trustees had voted to rename a school carrying the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which she considered a stain on the community, to Legacy High School.  That pride may soon give way to shame. A new configuration of the Midland school board is set to consider reverting the school’s name to Midland Lee, affixing Lee’s legacy once more. A vote may come as early as Tuesday. view article

Arlington ISD’s enrollment could drop below 50,000 in the next seven years, a report recently presented to the school board revealed.  The presentation showed two factors are contributing to the possible drop off in enrollment: competition with charter schools and the waning enrollment of kindergarteners.  The stagnation of growth in the enrollment numbers since the COVID-19 pandemic is not an issue just isolated to Arlington ISD — it is affecting the entire state.  “We are still the fastest-growing state in the country and yet, we are seeing these low numbers,” demographer Rocky Gardiner told trustees in April.   Zonda Education, a Southlake-based demographic firm that works with the district, created the projections.  The overall enrollment will land around 49,000 students in 2032 and stay around that amount for the remainder of the 10-year stretch.   The district has lost more students than it has gained through new enrollment each year since the 2018-19 school year, according to Zonda Education.  view article

6 trending stories in the Austin area: New retail construction; Waterline tower updates; Chisholm Trail traffic pattern changes and more view article

The TEA commissioner said the state is watching Fort Worth ISD closely and might replace the school board. view article

Efforts to reform the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR tests, in Texas schools died a slow death in late spring. But in their special session, legislators may consider it again, with a bill to replace “end of year” state assessments with three shorter tests throughout the school year. Like many of my fellow Texas teachers, I’m watching with interest. STAAR has long been an imperfect standardized assessment on our students, damaging them and our schools. It’s time to say goodbye to STAAR. Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article311593848.html#storylink=cpy view article

HOUSTON, Texas – Houston Independent School District, the largest school district in Texas, announced Tuesday that it expects 74% of its schools to receive an A or B rating in the state’s 2024-2025 accountability ratings.  This would be an increase from two years ago, when only 35% of HISD schools earned those ratings. view article

Zero Houston ISD schools received an "F" in the Texas Education Agency's A-F accountability ratings this year, while 18 received a "D," according to preliminary scores released by state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles Tuesday afternoon.  In 2023, 121 of the district's 274 campuses received a "D" or "F" rating on the annual statewide ratings, which measure school achievement and progress primarily through State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams. Two years into the state takeover, the state's largest district had just 18, all of which were D's.  Nearly three-quarters of the district's students are now attending "A" and "B" rated schools, up from 35% two years ago, Miles said in a live presentation. view article

Julieta Crispín Castro arrived early for her first day of summer camp, ready to prepare for the state’s standardized test, when the 13-year-old learned that one of her favorite people at Dobie Middle School would not be around next fall.“I’m not qualified to come back,” English language arts teacher Tatiana Brown-Gomez told Crispín, borrowing language the Austin school district used to explain why she was laid off as part of a sweeping staff shakeup.  Crispín’s face deflated.    “What? That doesn't make any sense,” she said.  The Austin Independent School District fired Brown-Gomez, a handful of other teachers and the principal after Texas gave Dobie two consecutive F ratings under its accountability system, a state tool largely based on scores from STAAR, the state’s standardized test. view article

Several school districts in Texas have sued against the release of the STAAR tests to help determine schools' performance ratings. Kingsville Independent School District started that lawsuit in 2023. The lawsuit argues it's against the Texas education agency accountability rating system, adding the STAAR test results are not 'valid and reliable' and should not be used to assign school ratings. view article

The Austin school district has not met minimum state exam standards for students with disabilities in the past four years, according to an independent review of the district’s special education programs. Stetson and Associates, a consulting firm, conducted a review of the Austin school district’s services for students with disabilities starting during the 2019-20 academic year, although the evaluation was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a change in leadership at the district. view article

A Valley school district is working to convince parents that it’s safe for their kids to be in school. Officials at the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District say they’re working hard to help families feel more comfortable about students being back in the classroom. view article

The Waco Independent School District and its charter school partner, Transformation Waco, could see more than half of their students start the school year Sept. 8 via remote instruction, according to registration numbers provided by both entities. view article

Dallas ISD is in a precarious position when it comes to grading. About 86 percent of its student body is classified as economically disadvantaged, more than 25 percent higher than the state’s average. Its population of limited English speakers is almost half, more than double the state’s. There are significant challenges when it comes to making sure all of its students are receiving adequate learning despite the disruption from the pandemic. More than 12,000 hot spots were purchased for students who lacked access to internet. All of these things affect grading, especially when these kids don’t have a school to go to. view article

Lloyd Potter, researcher and director of UTSA’s Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research, is supporting local Head Start and Early Head Start programs toward being more effective. Potter has worked with the City of San Antonio’s Department of Human Services Early Head Start-Child Care and Head Start Programs, and with local nonprofit San Antonio AVANCE Inc. to better assess their programs to provide information about how they are meeting the needs of the children and families they serve. view article

For years, Stephens Elementary School in Aldine ISD has been defined by the challenges that it faces rather than its academic successes. Nearly 90 percent of its students are considered economically disadvantaged by the Texas Education Agency. Nearly half are English language learners. And to state education officials, the school was failing academically. view article

A fifth grade Lumberton Independent School District student reported "vulgar" language in the STAAR reading test last month, according to information from LISD.  view article

On Nov. 9 Hays CISD released the draft of its innovation plan, which must be approved by the board of trustees in order to receive a district of innovation designation. If approved, the district would be able to make changes to the academic calendar and to exempt some Career and Technical Education instructors from teacher certification requirements. The district of innovation designation was created by the Texas Legislature in 2015 as a way to give independent school districts some of the flexibility that charters schools have under state law. While becoming a district of innovation can allow for numerous exemptions to curriculum or logistics requirements, the most-used exemption is the one that allows schools to start earlier in August. view article

Some Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District students will have the opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma and an associates of science degree. At a recent school board meeting, the administration provided the board with information on a pilot initiative in partnership with Lone Star College CyFair, the College Academy, which will provide 2017-18 freshman students at Cypress Lakes High School with an opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma and an associates of science degree. view article

At the center of our district’s Learning Model, one of our Guiding Documents that directs all we do in LISD, is “focus on student learning.” After all, the whole reason our district exists is to provide an education to the children in our boundaries. While our teachers and staff have done an outstanding job over the years working to foster a challenging, supportive and effective learning experience, we recognize the benefit of taking a step back every so often to ensure our many educational pieces are creating a cohesive puzzle. Our last official audit was conducted nearly 20 years ago under Superintendent Tom Glenn. Since then, we have experienced incredible population growth in our area, as well as great strides in the teaching and assessment arenas.  view article

Perhaps one of the most striking characteristics of the new Crosby High School is the flood of natural light flowing throughout the building. Windows line the hallways, classrooms, offices, cafeteria, library and other rooms that would traditionally be encased in brick and mortar. The new Crosby High School opened in August 2016. It was a part of the $86.5 million bond passed in May 2013, which incorporated the high school, stadium renovations and the new baseball and softball complex. This year's freshmen students may not have anything to compare the new high school to. But, as its inaugural school year draws to an end, some may wonder what the new building looked like through the eyes of those who did walk the halls of the former Crosby High School. view article

While Jacksonville Middle School recently was identified by the Texas Education Agency as a “struggling” campus, local officials took corrective measures long ago, ensuring that things were quickly back on tract, according to schools superintendent Dr. Chad Kelly. “During the 2014-15 testing year, we received a score of less than 50 percent in social studies in eighth grade – I think it was 46 percent,” Kelly recalled. “We met all criteria last year, but even if we meet it this next year, we are still on list (according to TEA rules). We are penalized for the next two years (because of the one particular score) even though we did make corrections … you are on the list for three years.” view article

This spring, high school students throughout the U.S.—including those at Cy-Fair ISD—will be introduced to an entirely redesigned SAT as the College Board, a nonprofit organization that designs and administers the SAT, has drastically changed one of the most popular college aptitude tests in the country. Beginning in March, students will take a redesigned SAT that, according to the College Board, does away with the difficult vocabulary section and adds in more straight forward questions based on real-world college and career concepts. view article

Officials with the Texas Education Agency confirmed Thursday that the troubled La Marque school district has lost its accreditation and will be annexed by another district. In a letter addressed to the Board of Trustees and La Marque ISD, Commissioner of Education Michael Williams says the school district will be closed, effective July 1. He cites the district's rating of "academically unacceptable" for 2011 and a rating of "improvement required" in the state of Texas' academic accountability rating system for 2013 and 2014. view article

The La Marque Independent School District will officially be no more. The Texas Education Agency informed the La Marque ISD school board that the district will be annexed by another district after failing to meet standards for academic and financial accountability, TEA spokesperson Gene Acuna said. view article

Marlin Independent School District Superintendent Michael Seabolt said during Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting that he thinks Commissioner Michael Williams will decide before the end of 2015 whether the district should stay open. view article

The standardized tests Texas students will take in the spring will be harder to pass. That’s because state Education Commissioner Michael Williams this week announced tougher grading requirements. But student performance on the so-called STAAR test hasn’t improved as expected, and one education expert believes more students will fail. view article

With its refreshed, laser-sharp focus on creating a college-going culture via Operation College Bound, Socorro ISD is seeing significantly more students taking Advanced Placement courses and earning college credit through exams now than what was seen just three years ago. view article

The Texas Education Agency is taking a close look at the Donna Independent School District. The TEA is meeting with district leaders because many of their students are underperforming. Superintendent Jesus Rene Reyna said the TEA is also meeting with parents within the district. view article

The SAT scores for Dallas ISD high-school students fell this year, with only 13.3 percent of them receiving a grade considered to be college ready, according to data obtained by The Dallas Morning News. view article