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There is a proposal on the table by Governor Rick Perry and the Texas schools. They share a commitment to provide a high quality education for every child in the state of Texas. A commendable goal to be sure; however, their latest proposal for the Texas schools is drawing some opposition in high places.
The governor and the Texas schools recently proposed a new policy to require all school districts in Texas to spend at least 65 percent of their operating budgets on “direct classroom instruction.” The goal is to limit administrative costs and to spend more of their budgets on actual instruction.
The problem is with the definition of “direct classroom instruction.” The Texas schools define it as “activities associated with interaction of teachers and students.” This includes teaching staff salaries and benefits, as well as classroom supplies, such as textbooks and teaching materials. The broad definition also includes transportation of athletic teams to their events.
What is not covered are teacher professional development and curriculum, student counseling, and some library expenses.
Texas representative Joe Straus (R-San Antonio for District 21), according to the Austin-American Statesman, stated that teacher professional development is essential to delivering a quality education to Texas students. With the proposed policy, he said you can get an athletic team to an event, but the coach will lack the expertise and training to win the game. Straus believes this proposed policy will shortchange the teachers and ultimately shortchange the students, too.
More opposition is coming from former Secretary of Education Rod Paige, who addressed the “65 percent proposal” recently in The New York Times. He believes the policy will limit educators at a time when they need to innovate the most. They need more freedom — not less. He wants the Texas schools to stress teacher professional development, Internet content to supplement lessons, and after-school tutoring opportunities for the students. None of these would be considered related to direct classroom instruction.
Straus further stated that if the teachers are not prepared to do their jobs well, then any other efforts to improve student academic achievement will be a waste of time.
The Austin-American Statesman article of July 21, 2006, noted that one in every two teachers in the United States will quite teaching within five years, and that more than 200,000 teachers will not return to teaching next fall — that is nearly six percent of all teachers across the nation. It was further noted that research has proven that new and effective forms of professional teacher development, along with powerful instructional methods, do improve teacher retention — not just in a particular school, but within the career field as well.
Retention of quality teachers is essential for the Texas schools, as well as for student academic achievement. Retention requires training and development for the Texas schools' teachers. Without it, the goal of a quality education for every Texas schools student is lost.
High schools across the nation are allowed to teach college-level coursework that is first approved by the College Board, the national administrator of the AP exams. Under current rules, a high school need only sign a form promising to teach the specific curriculum for any class to be designated AP.
When Texas schools students take and pass an AP exam with a high enough score, they receive college credit for the course, which they will not have to take when they attend college. Not only does this allow college-bound students to take fewer courses in college to fulfill their degree requirements, but it also means that they and their parents save money on the cost of college tuition.
Many Texas schools districts see this as a win-win situation that encourages students and provides incentives for them to attend college after graduating high school. Here is some of the information released by the Texas schools:
• The number of high school students in the Texas schools that took AP exams increased from 80,240 in 2002 to 122,969 in 2006 — more than a 50 percent increase;
• The number of Texas schools students, who scored high enough to earn college credit in 2006, increased by more than 40 percent from 2002;
• There was a total of 224,168 tests taken in 2006 and 49 percent of these scores were three or higher — this is a slight drop from the 53 percent of three of higher scores in 2002;
• English language, English literature, and U.S. history remain the most popular of the 35 AP exams available; and
• Italian, Latin literature, French literature, microeconomics, and physics of electricity and magnetism were the least popular.
To encourage students to participate in AP coursework, as well as to take and pass the exams, many Texas schools districts provide cash incentives to both their students and teachers. They partner with nonprofit donor organizations or use foundation grants to fund their AP incentives. Some students and teachers earn from $100 to $300 for each exam passed. The incentives must work, since all of the schools using them have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students taking and passing the exams. Galveston's Ball High School, for example, expects to receive $15,800 this year in student-earned incentives.
The Texas schools attributed their improved results for 2006 to the cash incentives, incentives to reduce exam costs for students (up to $80 for each exam), increased teacher training, and the overall push by the Texas schools to create a college-bound culture within their high schools.