Monthly Happenings

Farewell, Frank McCourt. Becky and I listened to him read his Teacher Man book as we raced across the West Texas desert between El Paso and Ft. Stockton. If you have not read his book, don’t. Listen to him read it. Then, go to Only A Teacher for his frank responses about teaching.

The feds approved $2 billion of ARRA funds for Texas educational use, primarily funding pay raises. I’ll leave my thoughts in the words of Frank McCourt when he said, “We know that surgeons are well paid… It should be the same way with teachers. They're the single most important profession in the country because they're shaping the future.” Who’s listening?

Speaking of the feds, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke to the National Council of La Raza re-stating several statistics about the Latino drop-out rate. The answer, according to the administration, is the Race to the Top program initiated with $4.35 billion from ARRA. If you don’t know about our Race to the Top, go to this page at ED.gov

Finally, speaking of the drop-out rate, TEA announced its annual school ratings. Due to rules changes the number of exemplary schools doubled, but nearly matching that is the increase in academically unacceptable ratings. It’s all a matter of crunching the numbers. I predict a record increase of appeals from borderline school districts in the lower ratings.

Hope you had a great July. Wishing you a cooler August with anticipation of a new school year.