Politics & Policy
January 23, 2013
How Texas Public Schools Teach the Bible
With a largely Protestant bias, according to examples culled by the Texas Freedom Network.
Education
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Louie Gohmert: Arm the Principals and Teachers
On a day that no other U.S. senator was willing to be interviewed on TV about gun rights, Rep. Louie Gohmert joined Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in calling for more guns in schools.
January 21, 2013
UT Law Prof. Lino Graglia Says Black and Hispanic Students Are Less “Academically Competent” Again
This time to a black correspondent from the BBC, in an interview about the use of race in college admissions. He'd said similar things at a student forum in 1997.
January 21, 2013
Texas Posts Fourth Highest High School Graduation Rate in Nation
New data from the U.S. Department of Education says that Texas is tied for fourth place with a high school graduation rate of 86 percent for the 2010-2011 school year.
Sports
January 21, 2013
Book ’Em Horns: November Edition
The latest, greatest crimes from Campus Watch, the University of Texas police department's blotter.
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Big Bird Presidential Skit Gets Beaumont Band in Trouble
Some people didn't find Beaumont Central's satirical halftime show, with students dressed up as Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Big Bird, to be all that funny.
Health
January 21, 2013
America’s Flamin’ Cheetos Crisis: Five Things You Need to Know
The Frito-Lay snack has been targeted for banning by some school districts, even in home-packed lunches. Also, it's not just your fingers that the stuff turns red.
January 21, 2013
Happy 100th Birthday, Rice University
This week marks Rice's 100th year as an institution of higher education. Here are five of the school's defining moments.
January 21, 2013
‘Playboy’ Honors SMU, UT, and TCU
Playboy's annual list of "Top 10 Party Schools" is out, with SMU scoring number one for "Best Nightlife." Former champion UT is still in the top ten, along with TCU.
January 21, 2013
Rick Perry Is Still Newsworthy
From Satan to sleep apnea, five headlines about Rick Perry following his Friday night appearance at the Texas Tribune festival and the publication of Oops, a presidential campaign e-book by the Trib's Jay Root.
January 21, 2013
Breaking Sad: East Texas Chemistry Teacher Busted for Selling Meth
Linden junior high school chemistry teacher William Duncan is arrested for dealing meth, inspiring inevitable Breaking Bad comparisons.
January 21, 2013
Accused Aurora Shooter Could Have Been An Aggie
In response to an open records request by the Denver Post, Texas A&M releases James Holmes' graduate school application to its Institute of Neuroscience.
January 21, 2013
Princeton Review Labels Three Texas Universities as LGBT-Unfriendly
In the latest Princeton Review ranking, three Texas institutions of higher learning made the list of schools most "LGBT-unfriendly."
January 21, 2013
TEA Sanctions El Paso School District Following Cheating Scandal
El Paso, which is no stranger to scandals, is facing another nick against its reputation after the TEA found its school district to be engaging in "unethical and illegal acts."
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
UT Files Brief In Defense of Admissions Policy
The University of Texas responded to a lawsuit questioning its admissions policy by submitting a 55-page document to the Supreme Court clarifying how race factors in to its process.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
Did Breast Cancer Make an El Paso Judge Break Bad?
A friend says breast cancer is the reason former El Paso County Judge Dolores Briones helped embezzle money from a program for mentally ill children.
January 21, 2013
Are These Three Neighborhoods Really the Fastest-Gentrifying in Texas?
The Fordham Institute singles out zip codes in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, but his criteria is limited and imprecise.
The Culture
January 21, 2013
James Franco Headlines UT-Arlington’s Commencement
James Franco may have postponed his plans to attend the University of Houston, but he showed up at the University of Texas at Arlington's 2012 "graduation celebration."
January 21, 2013
Cheerleading Becomes Even More Exclusive
Only nineteen cheerleaders were picked for Colleyville Heritage High School's squads this year, down from sixty in previous years.
January 21, 2013
‘The Revisionaries’ Explores the SBOE
The Revisionaries, a new documentary about the State Board of Education, received rave reviews after its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
January 21, 2013
“It’s Buses or Teachers, and We’re Choosing Teachers”
The fallout from the state legislature's record $5.4 billion cut to school finance continues.
January 21, 2013
Are You Smarter than a High School Student?
Test your smarts with 15 sample questions from the new STAAR subject matter tests.
Sports
January 21, 2013
It’s Baylor’s Moment
Lengthy features in Sports Illustrated and the New York Times celebrate the Bears’ unprecedented sports success and its implications for the university at large.
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Did Rick Perry Just Kick Off His 2014 Campaign?
Perry conducted a Kardashian-level of media courtship at the Capitol, where he told reporters he won't rule out another run for governor or president.
January 21, 2013
Supreme Court to Hear Case on UT Admissions Policy
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Fisher v. Texas, a case that could limit or eliminate using race as a college admissions factor.
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Rand Paul Talks Ron Paul
In a Q&A with the Atlantic, Kentucky senator Rand Paul handicaps his father's presidential campaign and its larger impact on the Republican Party.
How to Raise a Texan
January 21, 2013
Confessions of a Seventh-Grade Texas History Teacher
Bobby Jackson has taught students in the Aransas County school district about the Plains Indians, the Battle of San Jacinto, and Spindletop since the state celebrated its sesquicentennial. How he does it bears no resemblance to the class I took when I was stuck in middle school.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
A Q&A With Mimi Swartz
The executive editor on the controversial superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, the politics involved in public education, and how parents need to be more vocal and vigilant.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
Super Collider
Terry Grier is the hard-charging, reform-minded, optimistic superintendent of the largest school district in the state. He’s also the most divisive, embattled, and despised man in Houston. Did it have to be this way?
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Ring of Fire
On November 18, 1999, at 2:42 a.m., the most passionately observed collegiate tradition in Texas—if not the world—came crashing down. Nearly sixty people were on top of the Texas A&M Bonfire when the million-pound structure collapsed, killing twelve, wounding dozens more, and eventually leading to the suspension of the ninety-year-old
Letter From Houston
January 20, 2013
Schoolhouse Rocked
How an angry parent’s e-mail turned an elite Houston private school into a political battleground.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Map Quest
The battle lines over redistricting.
Feature
January 20, 2013
Over Time
Eleven years later, the Permian High School Panthers remember Friday Night Lights, the book that put them—and Odessa—on the map.
Web Exclusive
January 20, 2013
Lesson Learned
William Martin talks about how charter schools could fundamentally change the Texas education system.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Dream of a Common Language. Sueño de un Idioma Común.
The future of Texas depends on how well we are able to educate kids who can’t speak English. Has an elementary school in El Paso figured out the best way to do it?
Reporter
January 20, 2013
School’s In
The charter school craze hits Texas.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Lowe and Behold
An open letter to the lucky new chair of the most dysfunctional agency in Texas, the State Board of Education.
Skip Hollandsworth
January 20, 2013
Leave It To Bea
One woman’s unlikely crusade to help poor kids succeed—and what Texas can learn from her example.
Patricia Kilday Hart
January 20, 2013
Why Juan Can’t Read
In 2006 Texas schools still can’t teach English to Spanish-speaking students. Here’s what we should do about that—now.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
Boone Pickens and the Roach Motel
The controversial home of an embattled college president is a symbol of a Panhandle brawl full of conspiracies.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Reading Laura Bush
Thanks to her fight against illiteracy, the first lady of Texas is getting more attention than most of her predecessors— and much more than she’d like.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
The Aggie Bonfire Tragedy
What’s so important about a stack of wood? Every Aggie knows that the answer is tradition—which is why, after a catastrophe that took the lives of twelve young men and women, the decision of whether to continue, change, or call a halt to the bonfire looms so large at Texas
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
Why Teachers Can’t Teach
Our system of training teachers is a crime that robs taxpayers of millions of dollars, robs potential teachers of competence and self-respect, and robs our kids of a decent education.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
The Non-Conformist
Meet one very talented teacher, who, since he hadn’t ingested the required amount of educational gobbledygook, lost his job.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
The Test Teachers Can’t Pass
Last year half of Dallas’ new teachers failed a standard test on general knowledge that was a piece of cake compared to what we once expected teachers to know.
January 14, 2013
Wanted: Sugar Daddy To Pay Tuition
Texas co-eds are seeking additional daddies to pay down debt
January 3, 2013
Community College Enrollment in Texas Drops
Maybe because of a new state law requiring expensive meningitus vaccinations.
December 13, 2012
Irving Parents Worry About Pro-Islam Bias in Textbooks
Without having much reason to.
Chat
December 1, 2012
You Can’t Stop Renu Khator
The only female university chancellor in Texas (and president of the University of Houston) on her quest for Tier One status.
Books
October 4, 2012
Which Books Have Texas ISDs Banned?
The ACLU's annual report says there are fewer than ever, but such authors as Twain, Hemingway and Salinger still get "challenged" in some ISDs.