Patrick Michels
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Photos from Dallas’ Rally Against Domestic Violence
Saturday, thousands of men joined Mayor Mike Rawlings outside Dallas City Hall for a rally to end the city's culture of domestic violence, joined by major figures in the city's business, sports and faith communities. Full Story -
Photos from the Save Texas Schools Rally
Photos from the Save Texas Schools Rally at the State Capitol, a demonstration for more funding and less testing in Texas' public schools. Full Story
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Sweeping Education Bill Would Slash STAAR Requirements, Introduce New School Rating System
Aycock's House Bill 5 is a monstrous reworking of the education code that finally commits to legalese the testing and accountability reforms he and other lawmakers have batted around for the last year or so. Still, Aycock stressed this morning that it's only meant as a starting point. Full Story -
Judge Rules School Finance System Unconstitutional, Case Heads to Texas Supreme Court
Dietz was sympathetic to the central argument raised by school districts in varying forms: that lawmakers had raised standards for Texas schools—specifically by rolling out the new, tougher STAAR test—just when they were cutting funding from public education. "We either want increased standards, and are willing to pay the price, or we don't," Dietz said today. Full Story -
Can A Few Good Schools Make an Amicable Split with Texas’ Accountability System?
In the consortium’s first report to the state, in December, asked for no testing. No accountability ratings, either. They’re writing their own standards, in fact, so they’ll write their own tests. They’ll write their own ratings system too, when they get to it. Essentially, these high-performing schools want to secede from Texas’ testing system. Full Story -
Michael Williams Tries to Soothe the Masses at School Administrators’ Conference
Into this charged atmosphere, onto the same stage Robert Scott famously occupied a year ago, stepped Texas' new Education Commissioner Michael Williams on Tuesday. Safe to say, it'd be a hard act to follow. Full Story -
“The Revisionaries” Commits Texas School Standards Battles to the Fossil Record
The film does the important work of reaching past the point-and-laugh instinct that runs so thick in most national coverage of the school standards fight. Full Story
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Photos from the Save Texas Schools Rally
Photos from the Save Texas Schools Rally at the State Capitol, a demonstration for more funding and less testing in Texas' public schools. Full Story -
Testing the Limits: A Texas Mother’s Radical Revolt Against Standardized Tests
Edy Chamness and the Facebook group she started last year, occupy the radical fringe in a broad revolt against Texas' testing regimen. Full Story -
Tyrant’s Foe: John Kuhn, Standing Tall For Test Reform
“I think there’s a large percentage of teachers who kind of have this quiet angst about how they’re being treated,” he says. “I think I’m fairly typical. It’s just that I’m maybe not smart enough to keep my mouth shut.” Full Story -
If It Were Up To Us…
We detail a dozen items that deal with the biggest problems in the state. Some of them are liberal fantasies (ahem, income tax) but others are sound public policy ideas that Texans of all ideologies support because they would improve the lives of millions of people. Full Story -
Too Heavy to Bear
At 24, Ray Wauson was thrilled to land a job as an armored-car guard. But he was entering an unregulated world in which the people guarding the cargo are often defenseless against the cargo itself. Full Story
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