Category Archives: School days

HISD graduation rate up

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. Students in the Houston Independent School District are graduating at a higher rate for the fourth straight year, thanks in part to better tracking and online make-up courses, Superintendent Terry Grier said Monday. The district reported a graduation … Continue reading →

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How big should those high schools be?

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is a question that HISD is asking itself as the Board of Trustees considers the $1.9 billion bond proposal, much of which is to be spent on high schools. A number of HISD high schools have had large drops … Continue reading →

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Jamaal Smith: Cracking Down on For-Profit Colleges in Southwest Houston

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The following is from a series of guest posts that I will be presenting over the next few weeks. I come from a family of educators. Four out of five of my aunts were teachers, and my wife is currently … Continue reading →

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How much would you pay for that high school?

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Some cost more than others, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth it. Supporters of Houston’s nationally recognized High School for the Performing and Visual Arts have lobbied for 15 years for a larger, more modern building. They could get … Continue reading →

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Erica Lee: How to Keep a First Grader Off Death Row

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The following is from a series of guest posts that I will be presenting over the next few weeks. It is the beginning of the school year and excitement is in the air. Children are looking for their classmates in … Continue reading →

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Bond concerns

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Early reactions to the HISD bond proposal that was unveiled last week. “I think in the long run any anti-tax opposition will make it a close race,” said state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, predicting that Hispanics could swing the vote. … Continue reading →

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HISD will not raise the tax rate

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Instead, they will dip into their reserves to balance their $1.5 billion budget for this year. The amount is about the same as last year, when the district reduced spending by approximately 5 percent to offset unprecedented state cuts. Instead … Continue reading →

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STAAR pushback

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The House Public Ed committee gets an earful. Members of the House Public Education Committee on Tuesday questioned why the first batch of students who took the end-of-course exams scored so poorly. For example, 55 percent of ninth-graders met the … Continue reading →

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Not a great start for the STAAR tests

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever we think about standardized tests, we’ll need to do better than this. Thousands of Houston-area high school students failed the state’s new standardized exams and must retake them – or risk not graduating. Preliminary test results released by several … Continue reading →

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Are the end of course standards too low?

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Beginning this year, high school students must pass new end of course exams in a variety of subjects in order to be able to graduate. These tests begin in the ninth grade and continue through the 12th. The standards will … Continue reading →

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Two more ways to divert money from public schools

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Number One: Taxpayer-funded scholarships to private schools. When the Georgia legislature passed a private school scholarship program in 2008, lawmakers promoted it as a way to give poor children the same education choices as the wealthy. The program would be … Continue reading →

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On food in the classroom

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Bettina has had enough. See here and here for the context. I hate to go “back in my day” on you again, but I cannot recall a single time in my school days when we had any kind of food, … Continue reading →

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No calculators for you!

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’m OK with this. Texas schoolchildren should not use calculators until they learn to work through math problems the old-fashioned way — on paper, State Board of Education members said Thursday. The board on Thursday tentatively approved new math curriculum … Continue reading →

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No uniform start times for HISD next fall

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This surprised me. Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier on Thursday withdrew his proposal to change bus schedules and school hours next year after concerns about disruption to families and questions about the cost savings. This is the second consecutive year … Continue reading →

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The SBOE can even make math controversial

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The State Board of Education is gearing up to revise math standards, and as is always the case someone is pushing back. The Texas Association of Business is urging the state board of education to go back to the drawing … Continue reading →

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Well, at least they’ll be able to burn off the calories

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

News item number one. Papa John’s pizza, Blue Bell ice cream, and fluorescent-colored Slushies. For some kids, those may be the ingredients of a perfect school lunch. But for at least one Houston school district trustee, they may be the … Continue reading →

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North Forest gets a reprieve

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

For a year. The long-troubled North Forest school district will remain intact for at least another year as Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott granted it a rare reprieve Friday from having to close in July. Scott said he would give … Continue reading →

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How do school districts spend their money?

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

One report claims it’s too hard to tell. Tracking the billions of dollars spent on public education each year is virtually impossible, with no real measures to determine if the education of 5 million students is efficient, suitable and adequate, … Continue reading →

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Are you smarter than a Texas high school student?

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Well, why don’t you take this sample STAAR test and find out? It’s very much non-trivial. I got 11 out of 15 correct – I punted on the two physics questions and on the first World History question, though in … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend ISD goes iPad

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’m guessing stories like this are going to be increasingly common. [Three Fort Bend ISD campuses], all Title I schools that serve predominantly low-income students, are the launching pad for iAchieve, a school district initiative to create a tablet-based “e-curriculum.” … Continue reading →

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HISD announces public meetings to address proposed school start time changes

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

From the HISD News Blog: HISD has scheduled 10 public meetings to gather community input on a plan to add 19 minutes to the average student’s school day by coordinating the bell schedule among the district’s 279 schools. If approved, … Continue reading →

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Texas high school graduation rate improved over the last decade

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

According to one report, anyway. Texas’ graduation rate for high school students increased 1.9 percent since 2002 to just below the national average, according to a new report by a coalition of education groups. The report found that high school … Continue reading →

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The iPad classroom

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll be very interested to see how this goes. A Texas school district is trying to close its digital divide by distributing thousands of Apple tablet computers in a move that could make it the largest iPads program for students … Continue reading →

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Take the HISD start time survey

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, HISD is contemplating uniform start times for its campuses for next year. They have said they want public feedback on their proposals. Here’s your chance to give it. Implementing uniform schedules across the Houston Independent School District’s … Continue reading →

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The five female ADs of local school districts

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Nice story, with a bit of a lesson in it. The Houston, Katy, Klein, New Caney and Spring Branch districts all for the first time employ women as athletic directors, reflecting a new model, if not necessarily a new path, … Continue reading →

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Bonds, school bonds

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Another thing that may be on your ballot this year. Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier said Thursday it was time to start discussing a possible bond referendum to update the district’s aging campuses. In his annual state of the schools … Continue reading →

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More frontiers in school bus advertising

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This had not occurred to me. The rooftop of a suburban high school is not a location that companies usually consider prime advertising real estate. But in Humble Independent School District, it may be. The district’s high school is directly … Continue reading →

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The other elephant in the room

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Patti Kilday Hart writes about the Supreme Court taking up the issue once again of UT’s admissions policies. The Supreme Court’s willingness to consider the case signals that it may once again weigh in on how university admissions officers do … Continue reading →

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We have a long history of screwing public schools in this state

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been meaning to post about this Texas Observer story about the current status of school finance, the litigation challenging it, and the story of how we got here. Here’s a little local angle to illustrate one of the many … Continue reading →

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More on uniform start times and other options HISD is considering

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, HISD is contemplating uniform start times as a way to save a few bucks for the next fiscal year. They do have some other ideas going, as well as a possible property tax rate hike, and they … Continue reading →

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HISD to contemplate uniform start times again

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

They’re back. Bleary-eyed teenagers in Houston ISD could sleep later, but not everyone is cheering a budget-cutting proposal that would change school hours and bus schedules next year. The school board last year rejected a plan to tinker with the … Continue reading →

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The “Moneyball” approach to public education

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Via Lisa Falkenberg on Facebook, SBOE member Thomas Ratliff uses the philosophy from Moneyball to analyze the accountability system for Texas public schools. The book says, “One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a … Continue reading →

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Shapiro backs STAAR delay

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This was unexpected. Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said Monday in a letter to [TEA Commissioner Robert] Scott that ninth-graders taking the exams this year should be given a reprieve from the 15 percent requirement during the phase-in … Continue reading →

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HISD Board renews Grier’s contract

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It was not unanimous. The Houston school board on Thursday extended Superintendent Terry Grier’s contract through June 2014 in a split vote that signaled the controversial chief has bridges to build with the newer trustees. The five trustees who were … Continue reading →

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