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January 2008
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Texas ties
nation in overall performance
Education Week released
its 12th annual edition of
Quality Counts on
January 10, 2008. In this report,
states were awarded overall letter
grades based on their ratings across
six areas of performance and policy:
chance for success; K-12
achievement; standards, assessments,
and accountability; transitions and
alignment; the teaching profession;
and school finance. Some states
performed consistently well or
poorly across the full range of
categories. But a closer examination
of the rankings reveals that most
states posted a strong showing in at
least one area.
Texas received a C, tying the
nation's average in overall
performance. Improvements
were made in several areas but
showed impressive growth in
providing opportunities for success
to students moving from 48th
to 36th place.
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Dropout factories aren't found in
schools
Excerpt from
article written by Chris Lykins,
managing editor. Published in The
Seguin Gazette-Enterprise November
2, 2007.
Factory? As if
these children are robots, identical
mechanisms wheeled in as blameless,
perfect creations only to be dented,
distorted and destroyed by an
educational assembly line.
If there is a "dropout factory" you
won't find it behind the walls of Seguin
High School - or any other school in the
country.
You'll find it at home. If you want
to blame the nation's education system,
there are plenty of valid reasons.
read full article
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Texas schools are stepping up!
In yet another partially funded
mandate Texas schools are
scrambling to come up with
millions of dollars on their own
to meet a mandatory
fingerprinting and background
check requirement, which they
are happy to do in the name of
student safety. The state has
provided $10 million in seed
money, but the balance of the
project's funding is the
responsibility of the local
schools. The state admits it has
no idea exactly how much this
project will cost in total due
to unpredictable substitute
teacher numbers and the high
rate of transient non-certified
personnel.
Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) also known as
the "Fingerprinting Bill" was passed
by the 80th Legislature and signed
into law by Governor Perry on June
15, 2007. The Texas Legislature
passed this law requiring
fingerprint-based criminal
background reviews for certain
school employees beginning January
1, 2008 and continuing through
September 1, 2011.
Some employees will require only a
name check while others will need to
submit fingerprints for a full
criminal background check.
Exactly who is subject to
fingerprinting is detailed on the
State Board for Educators (SBEC)
website. SB 9 was
enacted to ensure the safety of all
children, teachers and staff in
Texas public schools.
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This month's featured sponsor
SHW Group
is an architectural firm
specializing in educational
environments that unlock people's
potential. We believe the physical
environment impacts learning, so we
combine our 65-year history with
highly innovative, research-driven
design solutions focused on
enhancing knowledge exchange. See
our work and learn about our
collaborative approach at
www.shwgroup.com.
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Myth of the month
Source: "Debunking Seven Myths
About Public Education" byMolly A.
Hunter and Matthew Samberg
Myth #5: The U.S. Spends More on Education
than Other Nations
Among the 30 countries of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development - a
body that comprises the world's most
affluent nations - the United States ranks
fourth in per pupil spending on K-12
education; this is not an unreasonable
position to hold. In addition, about 8
percent of U.S. education spending is for
health insurance, while other nations
account for these costs in their health
systems. Finally, if one instead looks at
preprimary-secondary education expenditures
as percent of GDP, which some economists
think is a better measure of education
spending, the United States falls to 14th.
more myths
*
National Assessment of Educational Progress
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Test your TAKS readiness
The following question is
taken from the 11th grade TAKS test.
About 10% of the energy at one trophic
level is passed to the next level. What
usually happens to the energy that is
not passed to the next trophic level or
used to carry out life processes?
A. It is given off as
heat.
B. It is stored as
vitamins.
C. It is used in
reproduction.
D. It is used in
protein synthesis.
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Breaking down the dollar
Three cents of
every education dollar is spent on
heating and cooling.
To see how one full dollar is spent
on education, read Tracking the
Education Dollar by clicking
here.
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Friends of
Texas Public Schools wants you!
We need volunteers willing to serve on
several of our committees, which include
Website Committee, eNews Committee, Rapid
Response Team Committee, Friend of the Year
Event Committee, and our Proud Campaign
Committee. If interested, please contact
Brandie Cleaver at
brandie@fotps.org. |
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Remember to forward to coworkers,
friends and family!
Friends of Texas Public Schools
Scott Milder, President & Chief Executive
P.O. Box 3526
Harker Heights, Texas 76548
Phone:
214-497-6411
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