1.  April 7, 2016

2.  How well are Texas schools doing?

5. Texas ranks 51 st (after all the other states and the District of Colombia) in the percentage of people with a high school degree or greater. Texas ranks 35 th in the percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or greater.

8.  What can the state do to improve education?

9. A charter school is a publicly funded but privately managed school that operates under the terms of a formal contract, or charter, with the state. Texas has 200.000 students attended one of more than 600 charter schools. This figure represents less than 4 percent of public school students in Texas.

10. Charter schools supporters believe that each charter school is an opportunity for educational innovation. Teachers can better do their jobs when freed of red tape, they say. Moreover, the competition from charter schools will force public schools to perform better.

11. The critics of charter schools argue that they are a back-door method for funneling public money from public schools to private schools. State funds should be used to improve the existing schools, rather than support an unproven educational experiment.

12. Although some charter schools, mostly small, college- preparatory schools, have excelled, other charter schools have failed to make the grade, because of poor test scores, financial mismanagement, or both. A national study found that 17 percent of charters provide outstanding educational opportunities for their students and nearly half of charters achieve results no different from the local public school option. Over a third of charter schools perform worse than their traditional school counterparts. KIPP Academy, Harmony, and YES Prep are Houston area charter schools that are highly regarded.

13. The educational reform movement that would allow parents to choose the elementary or secondary school their children will attend is known as school choice. The state gives parents a voucher that would provide a type of scholarship to be paid to the school that the parents select for their child to attend, including, perhaps, private schools.

14. Pro The proponents of school choice believe that competition for funding would force schools to improve. If low-quality public schools did not upgrade the quality of their educational programs, they would have to shut down for lack of funding. Con The opponents of school choice fear that vouchers would enable middle-class parents to take their children from public schools, leaving the children of poor families behind in public schools with even less funding.

17. Texas has a limited school choice program. The parents of students in schools that are judged low-performing schools for two consecutive years can transfer their children to any other public school in the district that will agree to receive them, including charter schools. The parents of students in low- performing schools are also eligible for free tutoring.

18. The Texas Senate passed a bill that would take 60 percent of state funding per student (up to $5,000) and send it with the student to another public school or a private school. The other 40 percent would return to the state. Only 25,000 children would be eligible. The Texas House blocked the adoption of a voucher program because of opposition from Democrats and rural Republicans. Lt. Gov. Patrick is pushing school choice.

19. Another criticism of school choice is that Texas does not regulate private schools. None of the accountability measures applied to public schools applies to private schools.

20. Many Texas parents home school their children. To home school legally in Texas, parents must follow three state law requirements:  The instruction must be bona fide (i.e., not a sham).  The curriculum must be in visual form (e.g., books, workbooks, video monitor).  The curriculum must include the five basic subjects of reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and good citizenship.

22. Some advocates of education reform believe that the key to improving education is to have smaller classes. The concept is fairly simple: Teachers can do a better job if they have fewer students in a class. In recent years, some state legislatures have mandated smaller class sizes, especially in the early grades.

23. Critics argue that the movement to reduce class size may not be a good use of resources. Reducing class size is an expensive reform because it requires school districts to hire additional teachers. Furthermore, research on the effect of smaller class sizes is unclear.

24. The Common Core is an educational initiative launched by the National Governors Association to establish consistent curricular standards in English and math to ensure graduating students are prepared for college and the workforce.

25. Initially, 44 states, but not Texas, adopted the Common Core. Subsequently, Tea Party conservatives attacked Common Core as a federal takeover of education. Texas outlaws the Common Core.

26. Bilingual education is the teaching of academic subjects in both English and the student’s native language, usually Spanish. About a sixth of the state’s public school children have limited proficiency in the English language, including 33 percent in the Dallas ISD, 30 percent in the Houston ISD, and 29 percent in the El Paso ISD.

27. Pro The advocates of bilingual education believe that it enables students whose primary language is not English to learn academic subjects in their own language while they work on their English. Otherwise, they would fall behind, grow frustrated with school, and potentially drop out. Con The opponents of bilingual education argue that it retards the English language development of non-English speaking students. They believe that students with limited English-language proficiency are better served by a period of intensive English instruction, after which they enter regular academic classes.

28. Texas schools use a mixture of bilingual education and English- language immersion programs. The legislature has neither mandated bilingual education nor prohibited its use.

29. Prior to the 2011-2012 school year, Texas used the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) to measure student progress and assess school performance. In 2011, 1 in 12 high school seniors, more than 20,000 students, failed the TAKS and were prevented from graduating.

30. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) used TAKS scores along with four- year high school graduation rates to classify schools and school districts as exemplary, recognized, academically acceptable, or academically unacceptable. In 2010-2011, 5 percent of Texas schools were rated exemplary, 34 percent were recognized, 53 percent were classified as acceptable, and 7 percent were scored unacceptable. What’s wrong with the sign?

31. In 2011, Texas replaced TAKS with a new basic-skills test called the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The new test, which is designed to assess college readiness, is tougher than TAKS. High school students will have to average passing scores in end-of-course exams in English I and II, U.S. history, algebra I, and biology in order to graduate. Schools and districts are now rated “met standard” or “improvement required.” In 2015, 95 % of districts met standard. A-F ratings begin in 2017.

32. Pros The proponents of basic-skills tests, such as TAKS and STAAR, believe that testing improves public education by holding students, teachers, and school administrators accountable. Cons The critics of basic-skills testing argue that tests actually undermine educational quality because they force schools to focus on the test rather than student learning.

33. STAAR is most closely associated with which of the following? A) Testing B) Charter schools C) Merit pay D) School choice The answer is A.

34.  What are charter schools, school choice, merit pay, bilingual education, and basic skills testing?  What are the arguments for and against each of the above proposed school reforms?  How well do Texas schools perform?