Many educators, parents, and concerned citizens have spoken out against the misuse and overuse of standardized tests and test-based school ratings at a series of nine Community Conversations across the state prompted by State Board of Education chair Donna Bahorich of Houston. Now a lot more of us have a chance to weigh in via an online survey posted by...
Today we depart momentarily from our regular reporting on legislative doings in Austin and Washington, D.C., for an important announcement from the American Federation of Teachers: Education is both a profession and a calling. But just because the work is rewarding doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging too. We know very little about the impact of work on the health and...
In the second round of the federal Race to the Top grant competition for school districts (RTT-D2 for short), many Texas districts have applied. Below you will find a list of all the Texas districts that submitted applications by the October 3 deadline. Grant awards will be announced by December 31. As we have previously reported, the RTT-D2 grant competition...
Each legislative session, lawmakers introduce bills addressing school safety and student discipline. It is important for them to know which issues you think are the most important to address. • Are Texas schools becoming any safer? • Are discipline problems better or worse each year? • Do you perceive a significant problem with student discipline or student misbehavior? • What...
The results are in. Many thanks go to the thousands who participated in our recent survey on the impact of state budget cuts, both for this school year and for what is anticipated for next year. (And thanks also go to the hundreds of superintendents who also weighed in on a similar survey.) Texas AFT highlighted the results today in...
Last fall more than 3,500 individuals responded to a Texas AFT survey on the impact of state budget cuts on their schools. The survey received widespread media coverage and helped continue the dialogue about the harmful effects of $5.4 billion in cuts to public education. Now’s your chance to weigh in again with a follow-up survey that gauges planned cuts...
The harmful impacts of the 2011 state legislative session on public education do not sit well with Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., and he is determined to hold the legislature to account for what it did and to try to fix it in the 2013 session. Hence the Brownsville Democrat has been holding a series of town halls across his Rio...
More than 2,300 respondents already have weighed in on our survey to gauge the impact of state budget cuts to public education. The survey is your chance to help lawmakers understand the real impacts of their votes so that we can help reverse the cuts in the 2013 legislative session. Take the survey now, and pass it on your friends...
In November, more than 3,500 people responded to Texas AFT's survey on the impact of state budget cuts to public education. The survey received widespread media coverage and highlighted the harmful effects of $5.4 billion in cuts to public education. Now's your chance to weigh in again with a follow-up survey that also asks for information on planned cuts and...
School Inequality New data from the U.S. Department of Education show that America's schools are still separate and unequal, and our failure to address this problem will consign legions of minority children to a disadvantaged and economically limited life, AFT President Randi Weingarten said. The new data from the department's Office for Civil Rights, released March 6, come from a...
