What is to come of Texas Education?

There has been a lot of concern these past couple of weeks about education in Texas. This past week it came to a head when TASA and TASB held a news conference during the TASA Midwinter Conference. The big push is to put education first and make it a priority this year during the legislative session.

Over half of the Texas school districts have committed to the Make Public Education a Priority pledge. The pledge is a chance to give legislators insight into the different districts. It talks about the funding cuts, what the cuts will mean to that particular district, what the district has done in the past and what the district plans to do in the future with school funding. This information will help legislators have first hand knowledge of what the funding cuts are doing to each district.

During the news conference last week, the blame for the budget cuts was put on the 2006 legislative session, when legislators altered the state code by reducing property taxes and revised business franchised taxes. The complaint is that business franchised taxes could not offset the property taxes, creating a smaller pool of money for schools.

Representative Rob Eissler, who is the House Public Education Committee Chair, met with superintendents last week. He said the budget shortfall may not be as bad as previously mentioned. He is hopeful for federal money that Governor Perry had passed up on last year. Representative Eissler is also in support of additional changes that will help educators, such as changing the cap of 22 students to one teacher in kindergarten through 4^th grade classrooms; giving districts the ability to reduce pay for teachers to avoid layoffs, and to stop unfunded mandates for districts.

There will be changes to Texas education made during this legislative session. Stay tuned to see how they will affect you and your district.

Please feel free to answer the questions below:

1. What is your district’s plan to cut its budget?

2. How will your position be affected by the decisions that are being made in the 2011 Legislative Session?

How many children could you educate?

Budget cuts, budget cuts, budget cuts is all we are hearing in preparation for the 82nd Legislative Session here in Texas. What does this mean to you and your districts?

The 82nd Legislative Session convened on Tuesday, January 11th. One issue that has been brought to many people’s attention is the proposed increase of the student to teacher ratio in each classroom. In 1984, the law was passed that in each classroom there would be a 22:1 ratio of students to teachers. In the 80’s there was much talk about having fewer students per teacher in each classroom. In some states, they were keeping the number of students the same but increasing the number of teachers (example: 30:2) per classroom. Now, due to the budget crunches here in Texas, people are talking about more students in classrooms K-4, thus eliminating teachers and saving money in their district’s budgets. Some educators are concerned with a larger number of students in the lower grade levels, sighting that this time is crucial in a young child’s life when they are learning the basics. Some lawmakers want to see the 22:1 ratio take the shape of more of an average number per district. They say some teachers maybe able to handle more students in their classrooms, where as others may not.

What are your views on this issue? Should the whole state have a student to teacher-regulated ratio? Should each principal know his/her teachers and be able to determine the number of students that would best benefit in each classroom?

KTRK-TV in Houston, posted their newscast at http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7881833, if you would like to view it.

This week in ASCD’s Smartbrief was an article from MercuryNews.com, on how larger class sizes in California are affecting students. If you would like to read this article, please click here: http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_17050096?nclick_check=1.


Feel free to answer the questions below:
1. What budget cuts is your district talking about for the next budgeting year?
2. How do you feel about the proposed increase in student to teacher ratio?

STAAR – What do you think?

State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) the new assessment program for the state of Texas and one of the most talked about issues in Texas education. From our understanding the STAAR assessment testing will include the end-of course (EOC) testing as well. The new assessment will cover the same core subjects in grades 3-8 and EOC of STAAR’s will cover the core content areas at the high school level as the TAKS did. The high school EOC will be a series of 12 assessments. The EOC testing is going to slowly be phased into the graduation requirements. Students starting 9th grade in the 2011-2012 school year will be required to pass the assessment to graduate. For grades 3-8, STAAR’s testing will begin this year.

The STAAR assessment is different from the TAKS assessment in that the STAAR assessment will be aligned within a content area across courses. Information for the assessment will also be gathered from other states, national assessments and international assessments. It is proposed that the majority of the test cover what is learned that year in the classroom, so that they can better align what is taught and tested. The STAAR will focus on Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Readiness standards taken from the TEKS will be emphasized. The following are the proposed readiness standards:

• Preparedness for the next grade or course.
• Support college and career readiness.
• Necessitate in-depth instruction.
• Address broad and deep ideas.

*This information is from Proposed New Assessment Model pdf found on the TEA website.

Not too much is confirmed about the STAAR testing. This month (December) a detailed plan with the transition from TAKS to STAAR will be posted on the TEA website by the Texas legislature.
For more information on the STAAR testing, please visit the TEA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/.

Please feel free to answer the following questions:
1. How do you feel about the new STAAR testing?
2. Have you heard any more details about this assessment?
3. How do you think this new assessment will effect students and teachers?

Electronic Textbooks

What is your school/district doing about electronic textbooks? This past month at the Texas ASCD Annual Conference, it seemed like the buzz was around electronic textbooks both in sessions and in the exhibit hall. When you have come across electronic textbooks, has it just been in a portable document format (a PDF) or has the textbook been interactive? Is it really worth the money to go digital if you are just reading the same print on a screen instead of in a book? Shouldn’t these textbooks be offering more?

Digital (or Electronic) Textbooks as defined by Wikipedia is “… core textbooks for students, with which students can learn contents that are tailored to their abilities and interests. Digital textbooks offer various interactive functions, and provide the learner with a combination of textbooks, reference books, workbooks, dictionaries and multimedia contents such as video clips, animations, and virtual reality, both at school and at home, without the constraints of time and space. In other words, digital textbooks are alive and in motion, and as such are literally “living and moving” textbooks that construct and create the knowledge not only of individual learners, but also the community, and support and manage the teaching and learning activities of teachers and learners.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Textbook). There is a ton of different companies that offer electronic textbooks and after reading the definition above, why wouldn’t you start looking into this for your textbook option.

Colleges are also starting to jump on board with this idea of electronic textbooks. As you already know, a college student can spend up to $1,000 or more in one semester on textbooks. Bellevue College has won a federal grant for electronic textbooks. They have managed to lower the cost for students to $35 a semester that will include a netbook and classroom materials. Would your school and/or district be able to see the same savings? To read more about Bellevue College’s grant click here: http://www.seattlepi.com/sound/429066_sound105682338.html.

An article in Forbes Magazine states, “While some students may be using notebooks or their more portable cousins, netbooks, to read textbooks, some experts predict that within the next 10 years, most U.S. college students--and many high-school and elementary-school students as well--will probably be reading course materials on an electronic device instead of in a paper book. And, that will have a broad impact on students and teachers, not to mention the $9.9 billion textbook-publishing business.” The article titled, Electronic Textbooks? You Bet, also talks about the Apple iPad being a great alternative to the paper textbooks schools are currently using. To read more of this article, please visit: http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/05/electronic-textbooks-ipad-entrepreneurs-technology-wharton.html.

Electronic textbooks - we know they are in our future. Have you started to look into getting them for your school or district?

Please feel free to answer the following questions:
1. Are you currently using electronic textbooks?
2. What companies have you researched for electronic textbooks?
3. What is your take on electronic textbooks? Should we be getting them for our schools?

Another Change to Textbooks in Texas and Across the US

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has passed another resolution for our children’s textbooks. The most recent resolution from Friday, September 24th was for the Social Studies textbooks. The SBOE passed a resolution on the balanced treatment of religious groups in textbooks (as stated on the official agenda). The minutes of this meeting have not been posted on the TEA website, but you can listen to the meeting by visiting http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3876.

You can also read this resolution that was approved 7-6 by the board members, by clicking here, http://www.tea.state.tx.us/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=2147487178&libID=2147487176.

The resolution states instances where Islam is mentioned more times in the text than Christianity. Also, it talks about the wording used to describe events in history.

On the ABC News website, Gail Lowe, President of the Texas Board of Education: “…said she's been told that the textbooks treat other religions, such as Judaism, Confucianism, Sikhism and Buddhism, in the same light as Islam, but only Christianity seems to be demonized. The resolution however, does not mention any other religions besides Islam.” Lowe also commented: "’Possibly, since 9/11 people are very nervous about terrorist groups. Regrettably, most of those individuals came from Muslim countries," she said. "But I think that textbooks show that the bias existed before 9/11.’" You can read more of this article at http://abcnews.go.com/US/textbooks-pro-islam-anti-christian-texas-state-education/story?id=11697738.

What is the role of our SBOE? This is the second time this year, they have passes a resolution dealing with curriculum content in the textbooks. The Texas SBOE website states the duties of the board:

Establishing policy and providing leadership for the Texas public school system are the responsibilities of the State Board of Education. By adopting policies and setting standards for educational programs, the Board provides the direction necessary to enable Texas public schools to prepare today’s schoolchildren for a successful future.

Feel free to answer the questions below:
1. What do you think, should the Texas SBOE be able to decide what goes in textbooks?
2. Is the SBOE role to change curriculum?

Poverty and Education

The school year has begun, and slowly we are getting to know the children that pass us in the hallways. We are starting to notice the children that are tired, malnourished, scared, mad, and with low self-esteems. According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a website that tracts children’s statuses in each state, states that 23% of our children here in Texas are living in poverty. (http://www.cppp.org/category.php?cid=10)

Poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau is if a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold. The family threshold is based on the actual family unit. This number is dependent on the number of people in a family and their ages. In 2008, the census shows 13.2% of Americans, which works out to be 39.8 million people, were living in poverty.

While researching poverty and education, I came across a website called Open Education. On this website they had a video that talks about a little boy named Tiberius, who attends public school in Green Bay. If you get a chance, you should really visit this website and view this video. You can see what one school is doing to help the children and their families through this hard time. (http://www.openeducation.net/2009/04/01/poverty-and-education-the-challenge-of-improving-schools/) The United States is facing a time of change. Shouldn’t we be helping our children through this?

In January, the Houston Chronicle did a story titled “Poverty Growing in Public Schools.” You can read this article at: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6795211.html. The article talks about the advantages of securing more money into early education and trying to close the gap in learning. With such high numbers of poverty in schools, we definitely need to do something for these children.

Dr. Eric Jensen, will be talking about “Teaching with Poverty in Mind,” at the 2010 Texas ASCD Annual Conference. Join us as he discusses how kids who come from poverty families are different, and what we can do to help them succeed.

Please feel free to answer the following questions:
What percentage of the children in your district/school/classroom living in poverty?
What are you doing to help them succeed?

Back-to-School – Are you prepared?

When we say back-to-school preparation, we aren’t talking about the tax-free weekend on August 20-22, 2010 here in Texas. We are talking about classrooms/offices straight and in-order, lesson plans/schedules up-to-date, goals set for the year, and pure excitement. Are you prepared?

One way to be prepared is to start out with a plan and what better way to set a plan then to consult with your mentor? How many of us are mentors or have one? No matter the years of experience you have in education, it is always a good idea to be involved in a mentor-ship. The word mentor, as described by the on-line Merriam-Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentor), is a “trusted counselor or guide.” Now, who doesn’t need a guide? When we think of educational mentors, most of us think of new teacher mentors. In many schools, a new teacher mentor is someone on staff at the same school that will work with a brand new teacher for a semester or maybe a year. This is great for brand new teachers, but it would also be great for teachers who have been teaching for a while, and even administrators. Creating morale and building teamwork could only help schools/districts. How else are newer teachers able to learn tried and true best practices? How are teachers who have been teaching for 15+ years going to learn from newer (younger) teachers about how 21st Century students are learning through technology? Mentor-ships are great for both the mentor and the mentee. In this setting everyone is learning.

On a website called BNet (http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-start-a-mentorship-program/212133), is an article called “How to Start a Mentor-ship Program.” While the website is meant for businesses, I think we can get a lot out of the information provided. For example they state: “People who mentor often are more productive, better socialized, and less stressed, Scandura says. They also tend to develop a loyal network of supporters, gather valuable perspective from younger employees, and gain insight into other parts of the business.” Does this sound like something that would be good in schools and districts? The website goes on to list the key elements of a mentor-ship:

1. Decide what goals you have for the program – what results you are looking for.
2. The essential aspects of a program like this.
3. The pairing process of a mentor and mentee.
4. Tips.
5. Setting Rules.
6. Receive updates on program so you can change and alter the program to meet everyone’s needs.

As the school bell rings to begin school for most of us towards the end of the month, are we prepared? Now is the time to prepare our teachers/administrators for a successful year.

We hope your 2010-2011 school year is wonderful!


Please feel free to answer the following questions:

1. Does your school/district currently have a mentoring program?
2. If your school or district has a mentoring program, is it just for new teachers?
3. Are your mentoring programs being monitored?