Tag Archives: high school

TAPPS changes its playoff policy

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which faced controversy last spring in a basketball tournament scheduling issue with a local Orthodox Jewish school, has amended its bylaws to ensure that its statewide high school competitions … Continue reading →

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Making the case for the HISD bonds

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Bobby and Phoebe Tudor, the chairs of the Citizens for Better Schools campaign, lay out their case for the HISD bond referendum in this Chron op-ed. Study after study has shown that children have more difficulty learning in inadequate school … Continue reading →

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HISD tweaks its bond proposal

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier presents Bond Referendum 2.0 for your approval. Grier’s amended proposal adds five high schools to a list of 20 that would get new buildings or partial replacements. The additions, originally slated for smaller renovations, are Davis, … Continue reading →

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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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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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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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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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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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Catholic schools doing the right thing

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve had a lot of disagreements with the Catholic Church on policy matters lately, but this is something I applaud. The organization that represents Texas’ Catholic high schools on Thursday called for a comprehensive review of the Texas Association of … 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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Beren

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Though they fell short at the end, the boys of Beren Academy had a remarkable and unforgettable basketball season, and I congratulate them. They rested. They reflected. And once the sun set on the Jewish Sabbath, the Beren Academy Stars … 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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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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On taking AP tests

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I guess I’m not clear on what the issue is here. Since 2009, the number of AP exams taken by Houston Independent School District students has almost doubled. And last year the district reached its highest number of passing scores, … Continue reading →

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On calculating graduation rates

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Education Agency publishes graduation rates for all Texas public schools every year. Some people and organizations disagree with their methodology, saying they assume too many departing students wind up in school elsewhere or are homeschooled rather than counting … Continue reading →

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Class size issues are everywhere

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We know that waiver requests to exceed the 22 student class size limit are way up. But that mandated limit is only for grades K through 4. What about higher grade levels? Patricia Kilday Hart reports that those classrooms are … Continue reading →

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The high school football tax

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

You may not be paying more in property taxes, but if you have a kid in public school, or maybe if you just know someone who has a kid in public school, you’re probably paying more for something. High school … Continue reading →

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Steroid prevalency: Opinions differ

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Richard Justice writes about steroids in sports, in particular steroid use among high school students, and quotes a familiar source. [Don Hooton] cites a Procter & Gamble Co. study in which 2,000 kids were asked if an adult, parent, coach … Continue reading →

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Private schools in the UIL

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

A bill by Sen. Dan Patrick that would allow private schools to compete in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) passed the Senate last week. Texas is just one of three states in the country — California and Connecticut being the … Continue reading →

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Lege loosens graduation requirements

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

A sign of the times. The Texas House tentatively approved legislation Wednesday to make it easier for high school students to pass end-of-course exams, a move critics called “a substantial retreat” from school accountability. “This bill creates a clear, understandable … Continue reading →

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Hard times for high school athletics

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

High school football may be a big deal in Texas, but high school sports are not immune to budget cuts. With school districts across the state facing major budget cuts, members of the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association met … Continue reading →

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The audit on HISD’s magnet programs

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The long-awaited audit has arrived. Students in Houston ISD’s prestigious magnet schools could find themselves shopping for new campuses if district leaders act on a critical audit that suggests eliminating nearly half the programs. The long-awaited audit, released on Friday, … Continue reading →

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Steroid testing can never fail, it can only be failed

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s definition of insanity time. Don Hooton’s anti-steroid message aimed at young athletes has never been more in demand. The foundation he started six years ago in the wake of his teenage son’s suicide, attributed to steroid use, has grown … Continue reading →

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Are you ready for end-of-course exams?

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

A preliminary run of the state’s new end-of-course exams shows that student performance is not where we would want it to be yet. Of the nearly 102,000 students who took the Algebra I test in May, for example, just 57 … Continue reading →

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Still steroid-free

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

No juicing here. The University Interscholastic League on Thursday released results of [steroids tests of high school athletes] for the spring semester of the 2009-2010 school year. Of the 3,308 boys and girls tested last semester, all of the student … Continue reading →

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Postseason expansion: Not just for the NCAA

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Texas high schools may be getting into the act, too. There is growing support to create a Conference 6A that would send even more Texas high school football teams to the playoffs, the head of the University Interscholastic League said … Continue reading →

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Who’s homeschooling?

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Are there a lot more home-schooled high school students, or are they just conveniently mislabeled dropouts? You decide. More than 22,620 Texas secondary students who stopped showing up for class in 2008 were excluded from the state’s dropout statistics because … Continue reading →

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Where does your school rank?

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

How good is your neighborhood school? Not just in terms of its Texas Education Agency’s rating, but in comparison to other schools? Here’s a way to find out. The greater Houston area is home to some of the best — … Continue reading →

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How you can tell when someone isn’t serious about making budget cuts

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

An inability to prioritize is a pretty strong indicator. The $135 million budget cut proposal from the Texas Education Agency includes one item that will probably not please Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. The agency suggests eliminating the $1 million needed … Continue reading →

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The economic impact of dropouts

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Really interesting story from last week. The Alliance for Excellent Education in Washington, D.C., analyzed data from the nation’s 45 largest metropolitan areas to see how high school dropouts influence not only their own lives but also their community’s overall … Continue reading →

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Sportsmanship

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll say this much in defense of Yates basketball coach Greg Wise: I don’t think it’s any less humiliating for the opponent that you’ve thoroughly dominated if you tell your team to just stop playing like they care about the … Continue reading →

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Who’s your referee?

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t follow high school sports at all, but this Chron story about a battle between the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO), about who has control over the officials at high school athletic … Continue reading →

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High school registrars

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We know that the Republicans like voter ID. We shouldn’t be too surprised that they don’t much like voter registration. [The House] barely passed a bill Monday night that would allow high school principals to appoint four deputy registrars to … Continue reading →

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