This year, like every year, Texas Education Commissioner and Dallas native Mike Moras will return to speak to the business community about how schools across Texas are improving.
He usually loves Dallas ISD, where he served on the school board, but this year he went even further.
“Dallas ISD second-year students are asked to give a short speech from a hawkish standpoint trying to convince Madison to join the war. This is a rigorous curriculum,” Moras said. “This year, every fifth grader in Dallas Public Schools is reading “A Midsummer Night's Dream.''
Almost half of his speech praised Dallas ISD.
“Dallas is leading the nation in transforming career academics,” he said, adding, “Dr. Elizalde has arrived and built a level of rigor into the classroom that I have never seen in my lifetime.” he added.
Moras spoke, then quickly exited and left the stage without taking any questions.
Next up is Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde.
“When I got on stage after the commissioners gave us so many compliments, I really felt like there was nothing I had to say,” she said, adding, “So the students We did better. But our grades go down. I can explain that, I can do it.'' Giving numbers doesn't make sense. ”
Elizalde is suing Moras, accusing state leaders of trying to take away high-performing school districts and give them failing grades in order to pass a new law forcing parents to pay state taxes and attend private schools. I'm accusing them of being there.
Elizalde said that, like Dallas ISD, Moras' new report card will likely move some schools in the district down from a B to a D, despite all the praise.
“Are grades correlated with student improvement? Or are they inconsistent with student achievement?” she asked.
“Politics is infiltrating schools in a way that is almost unprecedented,” said Taylor Kessner, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Professor Kessner studies the impact of today's political environment on the classroom.
He said the politically charged environment not only confuses and frustrates parents about whether a school is good or bad, but UTA has seen a significant decline in the number of college students who want to work there.
“They say, 'Why on earth should I sign up for this?' Some students say, 'Yeah, I signed up for this and I think I'm leaving Texas.' That's something I hear a lot. ” he says.
If House Democrats have their way, the new school report cards may never see the light of day. Teachers may not receive additional funding unless the governor enacts school choice legislation.
Parents need to scrutinize all of this to determine how their schools are approaching the political interactions we're seeing across education these days.
If you know a teacher who is doing everything they can to help their students succeed, contact education reporter Wayne Carter here.
