As a non-educator, I don’t understand how discounting the dropout rates is a good thing. Can someone explain it to me?

Quality of teachers is uneven
Research conducted for the Association of Texas Professional Educators shows that the quality of teachers is uneven between rich and poor school districts. The Houston Chronicle reports that “Wealthy, high-performing schools attract and keep experienced, higher-quality teachers, while schools with large numbers of low-income and minority students are left with less-experienced teachers, according to a new study.”

So… what’s the solution?

Spokesman Steve Stanford said administrators learned of allegations that the school’s varsity squad “kidnapped” junior varsity members from their homes, blindfolded them, bound their hands and mouths with duct tape and tossed them into a swimming pool last Friday morning.

Hazing is considered a Class B misdemeanor by the Texas Education Code.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Watch the trailer of the much-anticipated sixth movie. In this one, a prominent character dies. It’s the darkest of all the books, and the only one my niece didn’t finish. “It was boring,” she explains. I didn’t think so, but I’m no a pre-teen.

Footnotes
1 = article may expire in a few weeks.

Early next month a simple complex on the La Porte Freeway will host HISD’s newest charter school.

It will be called the Houston Advantage East End High School. The facility will be publically funded, privately run and will serve up to 450 students who struggle in traditional school settings.

[snip]

Footnotes
1 = may require free registration.

Thousands of eighth-graders across Texas will sit this week for the biggest test of their young lives.

For the first time in the state, eighth-graders must pass standardized exams in math and language arts to be promoted to high school automatically. The students had two chances during the school year, but that was not enough for many who failed the exams on both attempts.

[snip]

Statewide, nearly one in five eighth-graders has yet to pass the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

That’s at least 55,918 students who face retention in eighth grade if they again fail the test, which is being given for the third and final time today.

Texas is one of the toughest states when it comes to tying grade promotion to testing. Students in grades 3, 5 and — now — 8 must pass the TAKS in some subjects to advance. High school students must pass four exams to graduate.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

• Kellie M. Shotwell is the new principal at Dickinson High School
• Traci Goodwin is the new principal at McAdams Junior High School
• Patricia Lankford is the new principal at Hughes Road Elementary School
• Stephanie Williams will become the principal of San Leon Elementary mid-year

Source: The Houston Chronicle

[snip]

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced that Sam Houston must close after six straight years of unacceptable student test scores, and HISD had until August to transform the Northside school.

The reform plan split Sam Houston into two schools: one for freshmen and the other for students in grades 10-12. Both will focus on math and science. Saavedra put Crump in charge of the upper school and tapped Treviño to head the ninth-grade campus.

Neither Crump nor Treviño has run a high school, but both have led campuses that proved successful with at-risk students.

Now, they face the biggest test of their careers as they rebuild the academic program at Sam Houston, a sprawling campus that has had its share of gang problems, staff turnover and low morale.

The first and biggest step for the new principals is hiring teachers. Combined, they must fill about 140 positions, a massive task this late in the year. Under the commissioner’s order, only 25 percent of the Sam Houston staff can return to the new schools.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

Results of a new state physical fitness test confirmed fears that Texas children, especially teenagers, are seriously out of shape.

The fitness assessment of 2.6 million students, touted as the largest exam of its type, shows that only 30 percent of third-graders reached healthy performance levels in all six areas tested. By the 12th grade, less than 10 percent made passing marks.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

I’m curious to see who they choose to take his place.

FYI, I think this is Adriana Villarreal’s agency: Orquesta Communications.

Source: the Houston Chronicle’s School Zone blog.

Keep your kids sharp over the summer
Need ideas on keeping your kids sharp this summer? The Houston Chronicle¹ recently ran a story focusing on tips to do just that. A snippet:

Some tips for keeping kids sharp over the summer: Visit the library: Find out what interests your child and select books on that subject. Participate in free library summer programs and make time to read every day. Take educational trips: These can be low-cost visits to parks, museums, zoos and nature centers. Plan vacations with educational themes. Practice math daily: Measure items around the house or yard. Track daily temperatures. Add and subtract at the grocery store. Learn fractions while cooking. Play outside: Limit TV and video-game time during summer, just as during the school year. Intense physical activity and exercise contribute to healthy development. Keep a schedule: Continue daily routines during the summer with structure and limits. The key is providing a balance and keeping kids engaged. Prepare for fall: Find out what your child will be learning during the next school year by talking with teachers at that grade level. Preview concepts and materials over the summer. Source: Center for Summer Learning, Johns Hopkins University

Footnotes
1 = article may expire in a few weeks.

• New SAT isn’t much better at predicting college GPA, by the Houston Chronicle¹
• Study: The new SAT is not much better, by ABC-KTRK Channel 13

Footnotes:
1 = Story found on the Houston Chronicle. Article may expire in a few weeks.

Kruse and South Houston elementary schools will be expanding their school library collections with the help of a $6,000 grant from The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.

[snip]

Congratulation, Kruse & South Houston.

KIPP Houston High School will graduate its first senior class on May 31.

The high school, the first created in the Knowledge Is Power Program network, opened in 2004 as a public charter school. It was
started with $680,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation –
part of an $8 million grant to the KIPP Foundation in 2005 to start
KIPP high schools across the country.

[snip]

Pasadena students could soon receive a better education in history after the school district was awarded the Teaching American History Grant.

The Pasadena school district is the newest recipient of the grant aimed at simultaneously improving students’ history knowledge and teachers’ classroom skills.

The $949,434 grant will fund training with expert historians in cutting-edge techniques to develop teacher knowledge and appreciation for American history, encourage dynamic instruction and make history an interesting subject.

The curriculum is geared toward developing the classroom strategy of teachers and to help them bring American history alive for students.

Teachers in this program gain a deeper understanding of history.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

Police in the Santa Fe school district have confiscated dozens of
phones as they search for nude images of two junior high school girls
that were forwarded to numerous students, the district superintendent
said Tuesday.

“Those students forwarded the images and the circle opened up and got wider and wider,” Superintendent Jon Whittemore said.

The two Santa Fe Junior High School students took nude photos of
themselves and sent them to their boyfriends, Whittemore said. The
boyfriends forwarded the photos to others, who in turn forwarded them
again, he said.

“It’s child pornography, is what it is,” Whittemore said.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

[snip]

The Houston
Independent School District crowned one elementary and one secondary
school teacher as their Teachers of the Year: Melaine Leavens of
Wainwright Elementary and David Brown of Challenge Early College.

[snip]

Footnotes
1 = may require free registration.

[snip]

More than 230 new teachers will be in place, up 15 percent from last year.

The new teachers will form an active Houston corps of more than 400
first- and second-year teachers who will reach 32,000 students during
the 2008-09 year.

This year’s growth is made possible in part by a $1 million commitment from Laura and John Arnold in support of Teach For America’s presence in the Houston area.

The Humble school district will host the first Kid Lit Fest March 8, featuring nine children’s literature authors, activities, book signings and giveaways.

The event will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Atascocita High School, 13300 Will Clayton Parkway.

Admission is free.

[snip]

Footnotes
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After outperforming students from nearly 80 other Texas schools, Pearland High School earned the right Sunday to represent Texas at next month’s national academic decathlon meet.

[snip]

The Academic Decathlon contest is considered a premier scholastic competition among high school students, who are judged individually and as teams. The event culminates with a fast-paced intellectual relay called the Super Quiz. This year’s topic is the Civil War.

Each team comprises students from varying academic backgrounds, including three ‘C’ students, three ‘B’ students and three ‘A’ students.

The Pearland team scored 50,595 points out of a possible 60,000 during this weekend’s competition at Plano West Senior High School near Dallas, which hosted 40 teams from Texas’ large high schools. The top 25 teams from medium schools and 15 teams from small schools competed in San Antonio.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

Texas Southern University’s new president wants to end the school’s long-standing practice of accepting all applicants, no matter their academic background, saying the policy contributes to its alarmingly low graduation rate.

President John Rudley said the change is necessary to remake the state’s largest historically black university, which has been on the ropes recently because of management missteps, sliding enrollment and bad press.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks

Amid calls by some U.S. lawmakers for wealthy universities to lower tuition costs, officials at Stanford University said on Wednesday they would no longer charge tuition to students from families earning less than $100,000 a year.

For students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year, Stanford University will not charge for either tuition or room and board, officials at the prestigious university near San Francisco said.

[snip]