Some TEXAS MONTHLY Stories on Education

by Katy Vine [December 2008]

For the 140 full-time, residential students lucky enough to be enrolled there, the Texas School for the Blind is “heaven,” “home,” and “the first place I had friends.”
by Pamela Colloff [August 2008]

56, superintendent, Arlington
[February 2008]

Long before the BCS, long before anyone thought to publish insider newsletters for boosters, the Aggies were the best college football team in the nation—for the first and only time. The long-gone glory days remembered.
by Stacy Hollister [December 2007]

High school teacher.
As told to Katy Vine [September 2007]

Texas Southern University’s missed opportunity.
by Paul Burka [August 2007]

The Texas Education Agency flunks out.
by Paul Burka [August 2007]

Each year, some 55,000 talented high school musicians try out for 1,500 chairs at the Super Bowl of band geekery: the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention in San Antonio. Once upon a time, I made the cut.
by Cecilia Ballí [June 2007]

A ranking of 574 elementary, middle, and high schools that really make the grade.
[December 2006]

In four years as president of Texas A&M University, former CIA director Robert M. Gates—who knows a thing or two about leading a strong, hidebound, misunderstood culture—has left few areas of campus life untouched. But putting sushi in the dining halls is nothing compared with overhauling the Aggie brand.
by Paul Burka [November 2006]

At the Giddings State School, violent teenagers come to terms with their horrific crimes—and learn how to avoid committing them again—through role-playing exercises in a jailhouse version of group therapy. This is what your tax dollars are paying for? Well, it works. For a while, at least.
by Katy Vine [November 2006]

Does incentive pay for teachers make the grade?
by Brian D. Sweany [August 2006]

And why wouldn’t they be? As the head coach of the UT football team, Mack Brown is responsible for the way millions of Texans feel every day.
by Michael Hall [September 2005]

What happened—and didn’t—when we “fixed” school finance the last time.
by Jan Jarboe Russell [September 2005]

Where high school football memories are made.
Portfolio by Jeff Wilson [September 2005]

Who thinks tuition deregulation stinks? Middle-class kids—and me.
by Patricia Kilday Hart [February 2005]

A read on textbooks.
by Christopher Keyes [January 2005]

Of course I want to help my son get a decent education. But the demands placed on parents these days are almost too much to bear—which is why I'm in danger of flunking my life.
by [October 2004]

Austin's Garza High is a rescuer of lost souls. Too bad President Bush's education-reform law considers it a failure.
by Gary Cartwright [July 2004]

Garza High School principal Vicki Baldwin talks about the daily assault on public education, President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind policy, and what a non- traditional school like Garza has to offer kids.
Illustration by Lori Fradkin [July 2004]

A Harvard know-it-all predicts that the emerging Hispanic majority will be a drag on America. Tell it to your friends in Cambridge, bub.
by Jan Jarboe Russell [June 2004]

What place does tradition have at Texas A&M these days? One by one, the old ways are disappearing from the venerable campus, and many Aggies are up in arms. But embracing change may be the only way to save the school they love.
by Paul Burka [May 2004]

Photographer Peter Yang on getting Aggies to pose for their portrait and what makes a good picture.
Interview by Lori Fradkin [May 2004]

Senior executive editor Paul Burka, who wrote this month's cover story, "Corps Values," talks about diversity at A&M, the future of the Corps of Cadets, and Aggie traditions.
Interview by Lori Fradkin [May 2004]

Senior editor Pamela Colloff talks about the typical A&M student, chivalry, and Aggie spirit.
by [January 2004]

The dream of a first-rate university rising out of the prairie north of the Colorado River is almost as old as Texas itself. Which prompts the question, When will UT finally live up to its potential?
by Paul Burka [October 2003]

Can one man change the world's largest Baptist university? He can if he's controversial preacher-president Robert Sloan, Jr. And, just maybe, one man can destroy it too.
by Michael Hall [October 2003]

I was looking for a change when I decided to move to Austin and attend the University of Texas. Until I got there, I had no idea how big the change would be.
by Christan M. Thomas [October 2003]

Senior executive editor Paul Burka talks about this month's cover story, "Greatness Visible."
Interview with Paul Burka [October 2003]

It took a while, but I finally found my niche at the University of Texas at Austin.
by Casey Wilson [October 2003]

The battle lines over redistricting.
by Paul Burka [July 2003]

Juliet Garcia, president of The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, talks with us about her life and roots in South Texas.
Interview with Irene Kosela [February 2003]

Find out in our updated, expanded, and still exclusive ranking of nearly every public high school in Texas.
by S. C. Gwynne [November 2002]

One of the most significant factors contributing to a school's rating this year was the performance of its students in algebra. Many schools with respectable scores on the TAAS reading, writing, and math tests fared poorly in our rankings because of their passing rates on state algebra tests. With this in mind, we thought we would provide a sampling of five-star schools in low-income districts whose students did well on the algebra test and received five stars, and one-star schools in high-income districts whose students did poorly.
[November 2002]

The top performers in Texas.
[November 2002]

In the new book, Top Texas Teachers, author Dorothy McConachie gives 35 educators top honors.
Interview by Nora Varty [November 2002]

An Austin group brings theater into schools.
by Sandra Ogle [November 2002]

CAROLINA CARNER IS A SIXTH-GRADE science teacher at Chisholm Trail Middle School in Round Rock. She hasn't been teaching long, but her enthusiasm has already touched the lives of many students.
Interview by Nora Varty [November 2002]

From elementary school to high school, we've got more than five thousand public schools ranked. See if your kid's school is making the grade.
[November 2002]

Bill Wittliff and Edwin "Bud" Shrake, the recipients of the 2002 Texas Book Festival Bookend award, embody Texas literature today.
by Kirstin A. McCudden [November 2002]

Find out in our rankings of nearly every public elementary, middle, and high school in Texas–the most comprehensive and accurate ever done in the state.
by S. C. Gwynne [November 2001]

Playing God at UT.
by Paul Burka [May 2001]

For an East Texas school, there’s nothing elementary about George W. Bush’s education plan.
by Patricia Bernstein [November 1999]

The greatest coach, the most-fearsome players, the top teams, games you shouldn’t miss, and more.
by [October 1999]

The celebrity high school football hall of fame.
[October 1999]

Eleven years later, the Permian High School Panthers remember Friday Night Lights, the book that put them—and Odessa—on the map.
by Brian D. Sweany [October 1999]

Read all about her.
by Gregory Curtis [September 1999]

Baylor University gets sued by one of its own.
by Jordan Mackay [May 1999]

Fort Worth officers and teachers get to know Marilyn Manson.
by Mike Shea [February 1999]