Opinion
April 25, 2023
How Texas’s STAAR Test Took Over Public School Culture
Months-long preparations, complete with celebrity guests, pep rallies, and theme days, have turned a standardized test into an anxiety-ridden circus for kids.
No Child Left Behind
Behind the Lines
July 31, 2012
The Big Test
Before Robert Scott stepped down as the state’s education commissioner in July, he told anyone who would listen that high-stakes standardized exams were ruining the public schools. But is it too late to learn from his lesson?
Books
July 31, 2012
Why Johnny Can’t Learn
Can education reform save a declining Austin high school?
Texas Monthly Talks
April 30, 2008
Margaret Spellings
“If someone can show me a way that we’re going to attend to the needs of kids without finding out where they are, without diagnosing the problem, I’m all ears. But it’s not possible.”
Gary Cartwright
June 30, 2004
One School Left Behind
Austin's Garza High is a rescuer of lost souls. Too bad President Bush's education-reform law considers it a failure.