By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 15A Hey, kid, think you’re pretty smart? Want to join the National Honor Society – a prestigious bunch that does good work and looks awfully nice on your college applications? Well, if you’re a home-schooler, you’re out of luck. NHS won’t take you. That’s why a group of Houston-area […]
Year: 2002
Dropouts stump educators; Forum with state leader focuses on ways to keep students enrolled
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 23A RICHARDSON — Failing grades. Parents who aren’t involved. Feeling isolated from the rest of the school. Pregnancy. It wasn’t hard for the educators at Wednesday’s dropout prevention forum to say why some kids quit school. Figuring out how to keep them in class – that has proved harder. […]
1 in 6 area third-graders may be at risk on TAKS; Figures may provide ‘wake-up call’ on new reading test, official says
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A Nearly 10,000 North Texas third-graders – about one in six – are at risk of failing the state’s new reading test, according to a Dallas Morning News survey of area school districts. If they can’t pass the test, new rules could keep some of those 9-year-olds from advancing […]
Houston hailed as nation’s best urban school district; $500,000 Broad Prize awarded for reforms that boosted test scores
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A The Houston schools were good enough to get Superintendent Rod Paige a promotion to Washington. Now they’re good enough to be called the best in the country. The district is the first recipient of the $500,000 Broad Prize for Urban Education, which aims to recognize the best large […]
They’ll win some, they’ll ooze some
Page 19A Texas-Oklahoma it ain’t. But the University of Texas at Dallas promises the start of a brand-new athletic rivalry during this month’s homecoming celebrations. The chosen sport: oozeball, a sort of volleyball played in knee-deep mud. In case you’re wondering, no, UTD doesn’t have a football team. On Oct. 23, UTD will sponsor an […]
Principal demands perfection and gets it; Houston educator shows students’ poverty doesn’t preclude success
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A One in an occasional series HOUSTON – Mister Rogers and Nancy Blackwell have something in common. Not long after her 6:45 a.m. arrival at Hambrick Middle School, where she’s principal, Ms. Blackwell switches shoes, from modest heels to sensible flats. “You want to see what kind of principal […]
They’re not your everyday schools; A Fridays-off schedule cuts costs and motivates, some districts say
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A MIDLAND, La. – It sounds like a school calendar Ferris Bueller would dream up: every Friday’s a day off. At Midland High School, in this remote outpost of the south Louisiana prairie, it’s reality. And proponents in several states say it might be a way to score a […]
Students take TAKS for test drive; Their performance will help determine passing scores
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 21A Bone-chilling excitement! Nerve-shattering suspense! It’s the blockbuster thriller of the school year, the TAKS test — and it’s now playing in select classrooms near you. Across Texas this week, 118,000 students are taking an advance version of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the state’s new standardized […]
School defies labels; Frazier Elementary’s poor minority students excel in face of adversity
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A One in an occasional series Students who enroll at Julia C. Frazier Elementary check their last names at the door. All day, they wear their teachers’ last names like adopted kids. “We treat them like our own kids,” said third-grade teacher Leslie City. “We tell them, ‘From 8 […]
We were correct (even though it was math)
Page 17A Yes, the answer really was 7. Sunday’s Dallas Morning News featured the TAAS question missed by the most sophomores (64 percent) on last spring’s test. Lots of readers e-mailed to say we’d gotten it wrong. We didn’t. Unlike the testmasters in Austin, we’ll give you another try. (And a HINT: See italics.) “Rachel’s […]