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Posts 1 - 30 of 30
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Thursday, December 1, 2011 Texas School Funding Update: The Fight Continues The fight goes on to force Texas lawmakers to reform school funding and reassess the current two-year budget slash. 1) Structural Problem: The current system is simply not equitable. Example Frisco ISD 2) Funding Cut Problem: $2 billion less; 68,000 more
Little Elm ISD (neighboring district to Frisco ISD)
There is also a fight to get lawmakers to adequately fund a school system that is suffering through $4 billion in cuts over this two year budget cycle ---even though 68,000 new students will be added to the system over these two years. Over a hundred school districts in Texas are in the courts challenging legislative cuts and/or the school financing process. Plano ISD joined the fight a few days ago. See the video below by NBCDFW for more on this fight for proper education funding. |
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Tuesday, April 26, 2011 STAAR: The Latest On Texas' New Assessment Tool From The Texas Education Agency As previously reported in several posts on this blog (see keyword at left:"STAAR"), Texas will have a new accountability assessment system beginning in the spring of 2012. This assessment system will replace TAKS. Below is the first page of a five-page letter to administrators from the TEA regarding the latest in this development process. Much of what is on the first page is background and resources that I have blogged about before. However, beginning about two-thirds down page one (subtitled "Test Administration Policies") the TEA has provided quite a few specifics previously unreleased to the public. This is valuable, timely information that all educators in Texas should begin to get familiar with. Posted at 6:44 PM (permalink)
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Saturday, April 23, 2011 In The News: Praying For Rain Instead Of School Finance And Funding SolutionsJust about every time I read about the Governor of the 'Great State of Texas', I am amazed at the double-speak and disingenuous nature of his dialogue. It reminds me of a catch phrase on ESPN for athletes who do bone-headed things: "COME ON MAN!" The LA Times op-ed piece below exposes his double-speak of anti-federalism versus his tendency to take federal funds as readily as any other politician. Not addressed in this article---but something most of us educators recognize--- is his double-speak about supporting education but doing little to prove it. Please lead and pray for us on education financing. It is now raining some in Texas...and I'm sure it will rain a bunch more here before school finance is fundamentally addressed. Here are a few quotes from the article you can access in its entirety by clicking the image below: ..."You'll recall that Texas' governor has, on more than one occasion in recent years, flirted with the notion that the state should secede from the Union. Speaking to a Texas "tea party" rally in 2009, for example, Perry said: "We've got a great Union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're pretty independent to boot." ..."A lot of it is in his book, "Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington."..."Turns out, though, that Perry is -– as they say in Texas -– all hat and no cattle."
Where's the beef?!?!
Posted at 10:24 AM (permalink)
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Thursday, April 14, 2011 In The News: A Wise Approach To Difficult Decisions---> Ask The People!Quite a different context, but the same fundamental problem--->Decatur ISD is one more Texas district struggling with what connective tissue to cut from their already trim existence. They are also wisely considering how to raise revenue. I recently worked as a principal in this district. There was little--if any---fat to cut. Nonetheless, due to the state budget slash of 2011, they must now cut millions. The district recently conducted a survey of parents (47%), students (17%), teachers (21%), staff (12%), and community members (32%) to gauge acceptability of a full slate of potential cuts. Below is an image of the final three categories. The first six are Administration, Benefits, Facilities & Transportation, Instruction, Salary & Pay, Scheduling & Staffing. As a side note: I wonder if the district can further disaggregate these numbers by respondent category (parent, student, teacher, etc). This is an interesting document that you can download here.  Posted at 5:09 PM (permalink)
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Thursday, April 14, 2011 In The News: Big City Problems Can Invite Big City SolutionsThis is an interesting study of local politics...if nothing else. But it is much more. In previous posts I've covered varied responses by local school districts to drastic cuts in Texas school funding. This is yet another very unique case. This detailed, fairly lengthy article sheds light on internal communications (and just a few of the prickly issues) raised by some ideas floated between Austin ISD and the city of Austin. This article is a good read. A few quotes: ..."Such a degree of formal collaboration would be unusual between the city and school district. Unlike some states, nearly all Texas school districts are set up to operate independently of city and county governments. School districts set their own taxes, spending and policies. ..."early proposal to close schools. Such a move, he said, would seem to run counter to the city's efforts to reduce suburban sprawl and encourage growth in the urban core." ..."Other ideas tossed around City Hall included what one person described as a "tax trade-off."..."described the trade-off as an arrangement in which the city would raise taxes while the district lowered taxes. The plan wouldn't cost taxpayers any more money, according to the speculation, but it would raise more money for the district, which is forced to hand over a portion of revenue it raises to the state under school finance law." This is just a sampling of the ideas being floated regarding Austin ISD's shortfall. Some are much more controversial than others. The article is worth a read...and you may even know a social studies teacher who could use it in instruction on local politics! If so, please... Check It Out! Pass It On!  Click the photo above to access the complete story from The Austin American-Statesman
Posted at 12:05 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Trends: The Young Will Pay, Working Educators Will Pay, & So Will Our Retired EducatorsAre you an educator who has served your time and thought you were out of the vicissitudes of the daily education business? Well, not so fast! The Texas Education Budget Slash of 2011 makes it harder on all educators, even those who put in their years and are now living on fixed incomes. Good grief. For the full WFAA article and/or a video version, click the image below.  Posted at 9:50 AM (permalink)
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Thursday, March 24, 2011 Trends: Populations Shift Over TimeIn case you missed it.... "Hispanic students for the first time make up the majority of students enrolled in Texas public schools. The Texas Education Agency reports Hispanic students this school year account for 50.2 percent of the state's 4.9 million children enrolled in public schools, including pre-kindergarten and early childhood education. Hispanics last year made up nearly 49 percent of the students." ..."Currently, there are an estimated 2.48 million Hispanics students in Texas public schools." Click below to view the full story on WFAA.com  Posted at 4:46 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011 In The News: Principals In Plano ISD Have Been Invested With Tremendous Power To Remove Their Bottom Tier TeachersIn a school board meeting last night, Plano ISD committed to eliminating teaching jobs as part of their second round of layoffs they've deemed necessary in response to looming cuts of $35-65 million. Perhaps the most interesting sentence in this article is: "Principals are tasked with figuring out who will go." We all know that even the most well-meaning educators can be ineffective in the extreme, yet under normal circumstances it is extremely difficult for principals to remove ineffective teachers from campuses in Texas schools. It is even more difficult in many other states. Having said that, Plano ISD (and many other Texas districts) will likely have a unique opportunity to terminate their bottom tier teachers soon without so much of the necessary due process required in "normal" budget times. According to the WFAA story below, Plano ISD will ask principals to make the decision based upon certification, documented performance, professional background, and seniority. I would bet most districts are asking central administrators to do this task, with significant input from campus administrators. Seems like it is in reverse in the example here. There are so many varied responses by Texas districts to the 2011-2013 budget slash. Feel free to share your comments below! Posted at 6:37 PM (permalink)
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Saturday, March 19, 2011 In The News: As If Draconian State Budget Cuts Weren't Enough, They Are Triggering Federal Cuts For Some DistrictsVision and planning are good things. Austin ISD had a vision, did a tremendous amount of planning, applied for & won a federal grant of $62.3 million dollars from a "highly competitive, five-year Teacher Incentive Fund grant." Sounds great. Austin ISD had a vision to attract and retain top-notch teachers and administrators to their more challenging "east side" schools. The federal government vetted and bought into the plan. The problem is, the grant is contingent upon local money that Austin ISD had allocated before the budget slash. With looming state budget cuts of 15-25%, Austin must re-allocate those funds. Now, the feds say if the local matching funds are not there, there will be no federal funds. And...they seem to mean it. So, Austin ISD will take a State budget slash triggering a complimentary federal cut in funds. Good times for Texas school districts. Posted at 3:00 PM (permalink)
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Friday, March 11, 2011 In The News: Texas Governor Rick Perry Places Blame For Teacher Layoffs On 'Locals'Is there an educator left in Texas who supports Governor Rick Perry? Feel free to comment...pro or con. If you are still on the fence, here are a few quotes from the much more lengthy article below... "We're baffled by Governor Perry's comments," said Dax Gonzalez, spokesman for the Texas Association of School Boards. "Let there be no mistake that the decisions being made in school districts across the state regarding budget cuts and teacher layoffs are the direct results of decisions ... at the state Capitol." School district officials in Tarrant County collectively shook their heads at Perry's remarks. "It causes me much consternation that he would say something like that," said Cindy Lotton, the Keller district's school board president. "There are problems with funding from the state, and the districts have been tasked with cleaning up the mess."  A rally on the south steps of the state Capitol on Saturday is being
organized by a coalition called
Save Texas Schools. Planners say they expect as many as 10,000 participants. Posted at 12:21 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 8, 2011 In The News: Who Needs Teaching Jobs, Texas Is Looking For Jobs In Other Sectors Of Our EconomyThe WFAA.com article below details Governor Rick Perry's efforts to produce jobs in Texas by spending big money....while allowing education jobs in Texas to evaporate like never before. The loss of these teaching jobs is sure to have a ripple effect on local communities, in varying degrees. A few key quotes follow: "He used the word 19 times in his recent state of the state address and has made it a top spending priority. But if Perry realizes his vision of a budget balanced through cuts alone, 100,000 teachers could lose their jobs. That's about a third of the 333,000 teachers employed by Texas public schools....." ....."In the current budget, schools got $50 billion in state and federal money to teach 4.8 million students. Proposed budgets would short Texas schools $10 billion, a figure that includes money that would be necessary to pay for an estimated 160,000 new students expected to enroll over the next two years." Click the photo above to access the full story on WFAA.com
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Tuesday, March 8, 2011 In The News: Each Texas District Must Decide What Connective Tissue Is UnnecessaryThis blog has spotlighted how several districts in Texas plan to survive the loss of one-fifth of their finances for the coming two-year budget...give or take a bit. Keller ISD is a very respectable, healthy district north of Fort Worth. They are winners. Here is how they plan to run the next leg of the race despite slashing key connective tissue formerly important to holding their skeleton together. Posted at 9:38 AM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011 In The News: An Interesting Excel File---> Center For Public Policy Priorities Breaks Down Projected Texas School Funding & Job Loss Numbers...County By County.The Center for Public Policy Priorities just released four analyses that "are useful for estimating the effect of proposed budget cuts to (Texas) state services on local communities." One shows "roughly how the state's $27 billion revenue shortfall would be allocated county by county in public education." Importantly, it includes calculations of anticipated private-sector job loss associated with these cuts.  For the entire study, click the image below to access it from the Center for Public Policy Priorities  Posted at 7:16 PM (permalink)
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Monday, February 28, 2011 Trends: Somewhat-Unique Responses To Projected Texas State Budget SlashIt is interesting to see how each of the districts in Texas are somewhat-uniquely responding to budget cuts projected in the coming two-year budget. One of my former districts, Decatur ISD, will reduce its budget by $4-5 million.  Click the image above for the full Wise County Messenger article. This district was already operating on the margins in terms of staffing and maintenance. Further onto the margin it and so many other Texas districts move. Posted at 10:01 AM (permalink)
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011 In The News: Rainy Days Are Here For Texas School Districts...Where Are The Funds?Some momentum seems to be picking up for use of State "Rainy Day" funds to lessen the impact of budget cuts on Texas school districts. There are, of course, those hoping to hold back the tide...like Governor Rick Perry. One argument those of a like mind advance is probably solid. Specifically, dipping into the fund would only be a short-term infusion that will not fundamentally solve school budget woes in Texas schools (until school finance reform is enacted). O.K., they often fail to acknowledge the part about school finance reform...or at least any viable solutions. That is where we need to get to. Below find a few quotes from the WFAA.com story, followed by an embedded video of the entire story: "...In the worst-case scenario, Dallas (ISD) would lose $253 million in state funds, and that could result in nearly 4,000 jobs lost. One way to ease the pain would be to tap the state's Rainy Day Fund for public education. But as schools across Texas brace for the pain of unprecedented budget cuts, Gov. Rick Perry's office told News 8 his stance remains the same: The Rainy Day Fund should go untouched." Posted at 12:41 PM (permalink)
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Sunday, February 20, 2011 In The News: Parents Are Beginning To Band Together Against Proposed Draconian Cuts In Texas EducationPeople power seems to be a theme of 2011. Are the people of Texas about to demand adequate public school funding? A few quotes from WFAA.com are below and the longer video story is embedded as well! "The push is on for Texas lawmakers to consider all resources to deal with the budget crisis — including diving into the state's $9.4 billion "rainy day" fund." ..."I keep on getting the feeling that they all want us to meekly accept that there is going to be cuts," said Susan Schuerger of the Woodrow Wilson Community Council. "It hurts my feelings. It insults me as a parent and as a concerned citizen." ..."We are already at the bottom, and we don't need to race to be last," said Cochran. "We understand there's a budget shortfall, but you cannot cut the school funding for our children." ..."The grim picture across the state is pushing parents to recruit others. They want their voices to reach the state Capitol one way or another. "We've got a ton of people sending letters to their legislators, meeting with their legislators, planning rallies in Austin," Cochran said. "We've got a long battle ahead of us. I think more and more parents are going to come out and be heard." I love parents who support their local schools!
Posted at 9:32 AM (permalink)
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Saturday, February 19, 2011 In The News: School Board Meetings Into The Wee HoursArlington ISD (Texas) was already facing a budget shortfall of $13 million. Add on up to an additional $35 million of state budget cuts and you have yet another district in a deep, deep hole. So deep, in fact, that demands from parents like the one below are basically absurd: "Parents said the district needs to come up with a way to cut costs that does not affect students and teachers." No district can cut $48 million dollars and not have a dramatic impact on the students and teachers. Let's be somewhat realistic. Posted at 7:55 AM (permalink)
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011 In The News: Who Needs This School Anyway!I have been documenting the variety of responses Texas school districts are devising to address the budget massacre coming out of Austin. Grand Prairie ISD is a large district in North Texas. They, and others, are likely to close and consolidate campuses. Three points to remember from past posts:
Posted at 9:03 AM (permalink)
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Monday, February 14, 2011 In The News: Next Year Texas Schools Will Have Around 100,000 Fewer Employees To Educate 85,000 Additional Students...hmmmmI've mentioned it a time or two...Texas is cutting funding for education drastically. Check out a few of the details the New York Times published in the much more lengthy and detailed article that follows these telling quotes:
"All across Texas, school superintendents are bracing for the largest
cuts to public education since World War II..." "...Gov. Rick Perry, easily re-elected in November, made it clear in his annual speech to lawmakers last week that he regarded raising revenue for schools as out of the question.." "To balance the budget with cuts alone, the governor and Republican leaders in the Legislature have put forth bills that would reduce the state’s public school budget by at least 13 percent — nearly $3.5 billion a year — and would provide no new money to schools for about 85,000 new students that arrive in Texas every year. School administrators predict that as many as 100,000 school employees would have to be laid off to absorb the cuts. "Not only are the proposed cuts to school aid draconian, but in addition the Legislature in 2006 put strict limits how much districts can raise local property taxes. That means local school boards find themselves trapped between rising enrollment, double-digit drops in state aid and frozen local taxes. Many school administrators blame the current budget crisis on an overhaul of the school finance system five years ago, which Mr. Perry and Republican leaders pushed through in response to popular anger over high property taxes. The Legislature put a cap on property taxes for schools and promised to make up the difference with a new business tax. But that tax has never produced enough revenue to make the districts’ budgets whole. The chronic shortfall in money for schools was papered over in the last two-year budget passed in 2009. Mr. Perry and Republican leaders in the Legislature used about $3.3 billion in federal aid under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to plug the hole. That aid has disappeared this year."
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Sunday, February 13, 2011 In The News: Irving ISD Offers An Incentive For Educators To QuitYesterday's theme turned out to be IDEA. Today's is becoming deep education budget cuts in Texas...potentially as high as 25% in most districts. One prong of Irving ISD's response is a resignation bonus. See below. Posted at 11:23 AM (permalink)
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Sunday, February 13, 2011 In The News: As Most Texas School Districts Prepare To RIF Employees (Or At Least Not Hire New Ones), The Question In Some Becomes---->Who Are The Best Teachers???It is clear that Texas is undergoing a major contraction in public education, as all thousand-plus Texas districts prepare for major budget cuts. The story below raises an important question for those districts that must go through the "RIF" process (Reduction In Force). Once a district like Dallas ISD must cut 3,100 teachers from its force--as the story below represents--the question becomes: on what basis should districts determine whose careers will be interrupted by this financial calamity? Which teachers and support personnel must go? The criteria used will vary from district to district. What do you think?
A few quotes from the WFAA.com reports are highlighted below. A video and print version of the story can be accessed below these quotes: "The Dallas Independent School District discussed the possibilities of some very serious cuts within the district Thursday, including the elimination of 4,000 positions, 3,100 of which would be teachers. It's now a concern weighing on many teachers and parents in the district. District policy when looking at cutting back teacher looks at four areas: teacher certification, performance in the classroom, seniority and their professional background. On paper, it can seem simple enough, but translating that into people is tough. While the district says it has not put together a list, it has already taken some employees off the table, including fine arts teachers and workers who are considered the "best teachers." But, who and who isn't a "best" likely won't be an easy question to answer." Posted at 8:37 AM (permalink)
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 In The News: Texas Superintendents Converge On Austin To Implore Legislators To Search For FundsIs your district preparing to slash 20-25% from their next two-year budget? If so, your Superintendent was probably in Austin today. Most of them missed some serious ice in their neck of the woods. Hopefully they can thaw the funding freeze. Posted at 7:43 PM (permalink)
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Thursday, January 27, 2011 Trends: Texas School Finance Reform Long On Proponents, Short On SolutionsThe bill below is a fairly succinct statement of dissatisfaction with the means of public school financing in Texas--->property taxation. Like most such statements it is incomplete (in that it lacks any proposed solution), but it does express the strong sentiment that something different must be done. It seems to me like the bill, introduced by Texas State Representative Phil King, is but one more push towards fundamental reform. Having said that, Texas seems quite a long way from sharing public school resources equally. Boy, this school finance reform is contentious business. Is it Robin Hood....or are we in this together? Where are the boundaries of "our" territory? Global, national, state, regional, local, or a 1000-piece puzzle (districts) within our diverse state? Does it take a village to raise a child...or a state...or a nation...or a world?  This seems like more of a call to action than anything. Notice that "repeal" of the Texas Education Code January 1, 2016 would only occur if an amendment is passed in the 2011 legislative session that would create an alternate plan by that time. Not likely. Posted at 9:48 AM (permalink)
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011 In The News: Is Texas Preparing To Rob The Cradle?Is this the sort of symptom the Romans were experiencing a couple of thousand years ago? Is this yet another symptom of the decline of one of the greatest "powers" the world has ever known? Can there be a healthy, dynamic democracy and market system without having a healthy education system? It seems like we are in a cycle of demanding more from schools...but providing less to accomplish that end. It hasn't just started with this financial crisis...nor this budget. The "growth" in public education spending over the past decades was due primarily to the growth of special programs (particularly, special education). Bottom line, we are asking fewer people to do much more with less time. It seems that the cuts could start to reach the depth of major arteries this go-around in Texas. Am I wrong? Are we willing to invest in young people to keep our country from growing "old?" Do we already invest too much? And so on...and so on. Here is a video story from last night on WFAA.com. You can also find the story in print here. Posted at 9:13 AM (permalink)
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 In The News: Less To Do More--- Except In The Governor's OfficeTexas education will not be sparred in the intense belt-tightening to come. Here are some quotes from WFAA.com coverage...and the entire article link and embedded video can be found below that: "Public education in Texas is facing billions in proposed budget cuts that would include slashing arts education, pre-kindergarten programs and teacher incentive pay as lawmakers take on a massive deficit with the promise of no new taxes. School board members in the Plano Independent School District have already foreseen problems and have begun to take action. Wednesday night, the board voted to go ahead with layoffs of clerical and administrative workers to help shave $10 million off the budget. So far, there are no plans for teacher layoffs. Lawmakers got their first glimpse of what the next state budget might look like late Tuesday, including the $5 billion cut to public schools, as Republican Gov. Rick Perry and his supporters were dancing at an inaugural celebration.""....Some analysts say the true shortfall could be much higher than $15 billion — closer to $27 billion — to account for enrollment growth in public schools and on Medicaid rolls, cost increases and other variables. That figure amounts to almost a third of discretionary state spending in the current budget. The proposal would make public school finance reform legislation almost inevitable. It also would mean about 100,000 children would no longer have access to pre-kindergarten, schools won't get help building new science labs and would end a program that helps students earn promotion to the next grade. "...The state's contributions to the state employee retirement fund would be reduced from 6.95 percent to 6 percent, less than what is needed to maintain the fund, according the Legislative Budget Board. The base budget proposes a similar cut in contributions to the Teacher Retirement Fund. While almost every other state agency would see a reduction in employees, the average number of full-time employees in Perry's office over the next two fiscal years would go to 132 from an average of 120." Posted at 12:00 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 STAAR: Texas Assessment Conference PowerPointsEarlier today I posted "STAAR Trek"--- a PowerPoint from the general session of the Texas Assessment Conference. For more, any of seventeen other PowerPoints used during the conference may be downloaded from this helpful TEA web page!  What a resource! Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 6:00 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 Pass It On Education Tools: STAAR Overview From The Texas Assessment ConferenceAs previous posts have discussed, Texas is adopting a new state assessment system called STAAR. One of EdClick's fantastic customers, Pilot Point ISD, has posted a PowerPoint (STAAR Trek) on their district website from the Texas Assessment Conference held November 30th-December 2nd in Austin.  When you click "To Slideshow" on the page, the view will change to one like that below and it will then present the slides:  Download the actual PowerPoint file here! Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 10:23 AM (permalink)
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Friday, December 3, 2010 STAAR: House Bill 3 Transition Plan"The Transition Plan for House Bill 3 contains a detailed description of the process the commissioner of education will use to develop and implement the provisions of House Bill 3 (81st Texas Legislature, 2009), as required by Section 68 of the bill. The transition plan has sections covering the development of the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR™) program; the development of new performance ratings for Texas public schools; federal requirements for assessment and accountability; accreditation, sanctions and interventions; and financial accountability. Although HB 3 and this transition plan focus on assessment and accountability, two appendices include summaries of actions taken across other provisions of the bill. A Rulemaking Schedule summarizes State Board of Education and commissioner of education rulemaking required by HB 3. A Status of Implementation table summarizes the implementation status of the bill."  Download Complete House Bill 3 Transition Plan You can also see it broken down into easier to manage sections by clicking here! Posted at 10:01 AM (permalink)
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Thursday, November 18, 2010 STAAR: A New Assessment Model (for Texas) "The state assessments will continue to be based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), the standards designed to prepare students to succeed in college and careers and to compete globally. However, consistent with a growing national consensus regarding the need to provide a more clearly articulated K–16 education program that focuses on fewer skills and addresses those skills in a deeper manner, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is implementing a new assessment model for the STAAR tests for elementary, middle, and high school. The majority of the new STAAR assessments will test content students studied that year, as opposed to testing content studied over multiple years. Doing so will strengthen the alignment between what is taught and what is tested for a given course of study.....for more click: STAAR: A New Assessment Model Quoted from TEA .pdf document available above and at TEA's STAAR Webpage. Posted at 11:13 AM (permalink)
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Thursday, November 11, 2010 STAAR: Texas Education Agency LetterDistributed by the Texas Education Agency October 15, 2010 TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED: SUBJECT: Resources for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) This letter provides school districts and charter schools with important information about the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), the new state assessment program that will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in spring 2012. For grades 3–8, the STAAR program will assess the same subjects and grades that are currently assessed on TAKS. At high school, however, grade-specific assessments will be replaced with a series of 12 end-of-course assessments: Algebra I, geometry, Algebra II, English I, English II, English III, biology, chemistry, physics, world geography, world history, and U.S. history. Attachment A provides an overview of the STAAR program. The Texas Education Agency with the assistance of Texas educators has developed a number of resources related to the STAAR program. These resources, which are available on a new STAAR webpage at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/, include the following:
In December 2010, a plan required by the Texas legislature will be posted to the Texas Education Agency’s website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/. This plan detailing the transition from TAKS to STAAR will include specific information about topics such as the STAAR test designs, the assessment requirements for graduation, the measurement of college readiness, standard setting, and plans for meeting the assessment needs of English language learners and students receiving special education services. Additional STAAR resources will be provided throughout this next year, including explanatory material similar to that found in the current TAKS Information Booklets. These resources will be made available on the STAAR webpage as they are finalized. If you have questions or need further clarification about this information, please contact the Student Assessment Division. Texas Education Agency Assessment Contact Information Department of Assessment, Accountability, and Data Quality, Criss Cloudt, Associate Commissioner Division of Student Assessment, Gloria Zyskowski, Deputy Associate Commissioner (512) 463-9536 studenta@tea.state.tx.us Posted at 3:39 PM (permalink)
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