Thursday, July 12, 2001 Page 1A Fun in the sum Here’s the problem: How to keep kids from forgetting math skills during break By Joshua Benton Staff Writer When Lawrence Seidman’s two children were on summer break from elementary school, he could almost see their math skills slipping away. “They were losing some every day, […]
Sunday, July 8, 2001 Page 1A Summer TAAS puts heat on test-takers 20,000 hope to pass exams this week By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Anxiety about passing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills is part of being young in Texas. Students worry about everything from acing long division to filling in the bubbles on their […]
Read More… from Summer TAAS puts heat on test-takers; 20,000 hope to pass exams this week
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 17A When Angelica Vega dropped off her son, Arnulfo, at kindergarten each morning, the boy sometimes became confused. “I’d tell him, ‘Mama’s going to school,’” Ms. Vega said. “He’d say, ‘You go to school, too, Mama?’ Then, at night, we’d do our homework side by side.” Ms. Vega, 21, […]
Read More… from Yes, she can: 21-year-old overcomes odds to get diploma
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A The state comptroller’s report on Dallas schools starts with 908 pages of financial analysis and management critiques. It ends with 120 pages of voices from the classroom. Stuck in appendixes at the end of the two-volume document are the complaints and concerns of more than 2,000 11th- and […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 13A For decades, it has been a deal that teachers have been willing to make. They invest time and money to earn a master’s degree. In exchange, they get prestige, better teaching skills and higher pay. But in Texas, fewer teachers are agreeing to the bargain as the incentives […]
Read More… from Dwindling incentive: Less pay has fewer teachers pursuing master’s degrees
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 29A Dallas County is working to create four courts that will handle the thousands of truancy cases generated each year by chronically absent Dallas schoolchildren, officials said. The new courts, two of which could debut as soon as October, will be designed to ensure that truancy cases are heard […]
Read More… from Dallas County could see truancy courts by the fall
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A Let the silly puns begin. After months of contemplation, state education officials have quietly settled on the name of the standardized test that will replace the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, or TAAS, in 2003. And the winner is…the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. That’s TAKS, as […]
Read More… from TAKS season a certainty for students in ’03; Renamed TAAS II tested TEA creativity
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A A decade ago, it was the wave of the future. Now, the year-round calendar is becoming a thing of the past, at least in Texas. The idea was simple: Sharply cut back on the traditional summer break, and students will forget less and learn more. For a time […]
Read More… from All-year schooling fading out; Some Texas districts don’t see benefits
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 30A Ken Zornes was elected the new president of the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees Thursday night. The board’s 8-0 vote was a sign that the district has moved beyond the chaos that marked recent years, trustees said. The two previous transitions of power on the board […]
Read More… from Zornes elected DISD president; Trustees note 8-0 vote departs from past conflict
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A For many parents and school officials in North Texas, last week brought the latest in a long line of good news: Passing rates on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills went up, just as they have every year. School leaders were quick to praise the students, teachers and […]