By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A Are Texas schools supposed to be running a sprint or a marathon? Hurdles or a relay race? That’s the analogy some area superintendents are using to decry an unexpected delay in the creation of the state’s new school ratings system. Their schools will be expected to meet a […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B When the first talking Barbie doll debuted in 1992, she enraged women’s groups – and not just because of her impossible figure. If you pressed a button on Teen Talk Barbie’s back, she proclaimed: “Math class is tough!” The American Association of University Women demanded (and received) a […]
Read More… from Column: Education experiment reveals power of great expectations
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A It was more than a decade ago that Bob Taylor, Dallas lawyer and proud alumnus of Duke University, met the high school senior with a love of blue water. Mr. Taylor interviewed the boy to see if he was worthy of admission to Duke. The boy said his […]
By Terrence Stutz and Joshua Benton Staff Writers Page 1A Gov. Rick Perry spelled out more of his $500 million plan to improve public schools Tuesday as key parts of his proposal came under fire from teacher groups, property-poor school districts and the state comptroller. The governor’s latest school funding ideas, unveiled before an expected […]
Page 2B For the first time, the average Texas public school teacher makes more than $40,000 a year, according to an annual survey released last week. But teacher salaries are growing at the slowest pace in at least a decade. The study – jointly conducted by the Texas Association of School Boards and the Texas […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B It’s pop quiz time. Fill in the blanks: What technological advances are these people talking about? 1. “I believe that _________ is destined to revolutionize our educational system.” 2. “The time may come when a _________ will be as common in the classroom as is the blackboard.” 3. […]
Page 1B Did the earth move for you? Now you can get confirmation. Geoscientists at the University of Texas at Dallas have installed a seismograph that will measure the magnitude of any earthshaking events in the area. North Texas is pretty stable, so the device is more likely to pick up shimmies in hot spots […]
By Jason Trahan and Joshua Benton Staff Writers and Matthew Zabel Denton Record-Chronicle Page 1A They were the kind of kids who sang in the church choir. They flew to Central America to help children struggling with cerebral palsy. For fun, they went rock climbing and played computer games. They dreamed of being veterinarians and […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A When war loomed in Iraq, Karen Nelson briefly considered the possibility that one of her three grown sons could face compulsory military service. “But I didn’t think their 53-year-old father would be the one drafted,” she said. He wasn’t drafted, exactly, but former Texas Education Commissioner Jim Nelson […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B Traditionally, Aristotle is given credit for formulating something called the Law of Non-Contradiction. It holds that two contradictory ideas cannot both be true at the same time. As a test case, let’s take a look at the Houston school district: * Houston ISD’s official annual dropout rate is […]
Read More… from Column: True dropout rate? It takes calculating