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 […]
Category: DMN | Education
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 […]
a + b = a tough question on TAAS
Page 33A Ever wonder how hard the dreaded TAAS test really is? State officials announced last week how students fared on individual test questions. The one missed by the most sophomores (64 percent) last spring: “Rachel’s house is 12 miles due west of Highway Exit 16B. Keitha’s house is due north of the same exit. […]
If you want ivy, Greenhill’s the place to grow
Page 33A Hey, ambitious parents! Want to make sure your child has a shot at finding his way inside the ivy walls of Yale, Harvard or Princeton? Send him to Greenhill School. According to a new study by Worth magazine, the Addison private campus is the nation’s 37th best “feeder school” to the three elite […]
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Texas students boost passing rate in algebra; State level at 60%; English test scores dive amid math push
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 31A Texas students are continuing to recover from their traditional weakness in algebra, according to a new set of test scores released Friday. The statewide passing rate jumped from 51 to 60 percent for students who took the Algebra I end-of-course exam in the spring. That’s the biggest one-year […]
Bleaker dropout picture painted; Federal figures almost quadruple state’s estimation of problem
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A Federal officials have estimated the size of Texas’ dropout problem for the first time and say it’s almost quadruple what the state says. Five percent of Texas high school students dropped out in the 1999-2000 school year, according to a new report from the National Center for Education […]
School choice with a hitch; Students may transfer from failing sites, but state hasn’t issued list
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A If your child is stuck in a failing school, a new federal law is supposed to give him a way out this fall: the right to transfer to any better school in your district. So that parents would have time to plan a switch, states across the country […]
Edu-speak: Schools’ alphabet soup
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 10H Confused by the alphabet soup of acronyms educators throw around? Don’t know your M&O from your I&S, your TAAS from your TAKS from your TEKS? We’re here to clear up your confusion (well, some of it): ADD, ADHD: Attention deficit disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The conditions […]
Texas students about to face a higher academic threshold; Educators brace for more failures under tough new TAKS test
By Joshua Benton and Terrence Stutz Staff Writers Page 1A The last time Texas students had to adjust to a new state test, they stumbled. It was 1990, and the outmoded Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills, or TEAMS, had just been put out to pasture. Its new, tougher replacement: an up-and-comer called the Texas […]