Education Programs Administration

Yet Another Piece Of Good News For TSU

Photo courtesy TSUSheila Jackson Lee and TSU officials announce their big news​What's this? Good news two months in a row from TSU? The world spins crazily on its axis.Last month the embattled institution found out it had been taken off probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools ... More >>

Neil Bush Wants Him Some Of That There Stimulus Money

Love it, hate it, the federal stimulus money is coming and it's got to be spent on something.Why not Neil Bush?Bush, the wayward son of the Bush family (and that's saying something) is, of course, the guy behind Ignite!, the company that tries to get schools to buy its Schoolhouse Rock-like gadgetry ... More >>

HISD: Too Big For Mere Texas Meetings

The Texas Association of School Administrators is a high-powered organization of superintendents and other education bureaucrats. They recently held an important legislative conference in Austin, dealing with pressing issues like stimulus funds.Attendees got updates from key state senators and reps, ... More >>

What A Relief: You Don't Have To Pee Your Pants To Pass A TAKS Test

Photo by cliff1066Last week saw the first volley of TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) testing for public high schoolers. Crucial to the success of the mission was a ruling from State Education Commissioner Robert Scott that yes, bathroom breaks are allowed during the testing. The Texas ... More >>

Cost Cutting: Dan Patrick Says Drop Those Caps On Elementary Class Size

Just in time for the 25th anniversary of the landmark Texas House Bill 72, Senator Dan Patrick has pre-filed a bill to amend it in several ways -- no, he's not touching No Pass, No Play -- but he is fiddling with the cap in place on the number of kids that schools can cram into their K-4th grade cla ... More >>

D.A.R.E. Ain't What It Used To Be Around Houston

D.A.R.E. was designed to keep a kid off drugs, but that's a tough feat without adequate funding. In the last five years, waning support from the state has forced some school districts to pull the plug on the program and forced others to downgrade considerably.  The Houston school district and t ... More >>

Aldine ISD Is The Susan Lucci Of The Broad Prize, Again

You Can Ignore Evolutionary Theory In Texas

Hey Truants -- They're Coming After You

HISD May Hike Cafeteria Prices

Cover Story: College Immaterial

Toxic Town: Suffer the Children

Carcinogen samples from local schools are off the charts

This Just In: Activists Call for Investigation into Why Neil Bush Is Receiving Federal Education Funds

Coming Up: Which Schools Are Horrible?

Creationism and the Dumbing Down of Texas

Homeless in Suburbia

Michael Lyddon slept on this bench at night because he had nowhere else to go. According to elected officials in Fort Bend, though, he doesn't exist

Opt In, Opt Out

HISD continues to send students to CEP. Whether they go there, stay there or return successfully to their home school is anyone's guess.

Bad Checks

Sure you can ferret out the slimeballs in our midst? Guess again if you're relying on standard background searches in Texas

Letters to the Editor

Needling the Haystack

A 1,683-mile drive taught us that educators don't always entertain an open-door policy when it comes to public records

Eating It Up

Are HISD and Aramark cooking the books to feast on federal breakfast subsidies?

KISD Off

Klein students are on a fast track to expulsion, thanks to a district that's figured a way to get someone else to pick up the tab for alternative education

A Paige from the Past?

A lawsuit accuses HISD's former chief and a trustee of influence-peddling

Million-Dollar Babies

Some CEP students have been locked in for years

The Great Divide

Principal Lawrence Allen is a role model to some, an inept bumbler to others. Jones High School is split: Magnet-program parents versus the local community. It's up to Superintendent Kaye Stripling to make it right. Lucky her.

Letters, November 29

Piety or Pac-Man, At Any Rate, Bell View

Hail to the Chiefs

Rod Paige searches for the perfect image, and CEP wiggles in even closer to the power source -- wherever it can find it

But Who's Counting?

Thousands of students disappear from our schools yearly, but the TEA insists they're not dropouts

Best Local Boy Made Good

Rod Paige U.S. Secretary of Education

Credit Check

Kids rack up university credits right there in high school. And their districts and colleges ring up ample revenues in the process. But are the students really learning?

Days of Paige

Did Bush pick a master educator - or an overpaid front man?

TAASk-masters

Want an edge on that ultimate school exam? Have your $8 ready for this primer.

Learning Curves

A disabled Spanish-speaking student could define the limits for special education

Working Every Angle

The city of Houston is exploiting loopholes in state law to lavish big bucks on private developers

Learning Curves

Charter school scandals are teaching Texas a hard lesson -- one the state should have known fouryears and $77 million ago

Letters

Adding It All Up

What does it really mean to pass the TAAS?

The Fix Is In

Are educators cheating on TAAS? Is anyone going to stop them?

Carbonated Cash

Drink up, kids. Keep those soda dollars coming.

(Pay)checks and (Im)balances

Fat starting salaries! Hefty raises! HISD says its administrators deserve them.

Peer Pressure

At Anderson Elementary, students are packed into classrooms, hallways and portable buildings as educators struggle to manage a school with too many kids

What Went Wrong at the Rice School?

The Rice School/La Escuela Rice was a much-touted experiment by HISDand Rice University. So far, the results haven't been encouraging.

Besieged by the Bay

Beset by skyrocketing tax assessments and wary of encroaching development, property owners in San Leon-Bacliff wonder if their "poor man's Riviera" may soon go the way of other waterfront zones along Galveston Bay.

Letters

Letters

Basic Ballard

Donna Ballard and her Christian conservative cohorts have transformed the State Board of Education. But will they transform the way Texas teaches its kids?

A Question of Competence

State Comptroller John Sharp has suggested that HISD needs to fire more incompetent teachers. But as the case of Beverly Goodie shows, it's not that simple. Just how do you tell who's incompetent? And what happens when you try?

The Insider

Bitter Lesson

For 27 years, math teacher Phyllis Landes had a spotless record. Then the Texas Education Agency accused her of making racist remarks, and nearly ruined her school and her life.

Condoms! Homosexuals! Lesbian Adoption!

After a vicious campaign, the religious right is poised to push its agenda on the State Board of Education