Critics of the Texas public education system had hoped this legislative session would mark positive change in the academic standards for Texas children.
According to Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond SB 3 authored by Senate Education Chair Florence Shapiro ushers in that change.
TAB supports the public education accountability reforms outlined in Senate Bill 3 which sets a meaningful standard for end of course exams and will allow rigorous and relevant career and technology education to flourish in our schools" said Hammond in a press release sent out Thursday morning.
In 2007 the Dallas Morning News commented on the Commission for a College Ready Texas issued by Gov. Perry. The commission found that 50 percent of college freshmen in Texas were enrolled in remedial or developmental classes. Furthermore only 18 percent of Texas students who took the ACT a leading college entrance exam met college readiness benchmarks in all English math science and social studies. The report cited that the percentages of college readiness based off the ACT were even smaller for black and Hispanic students.
SB 3 tightens end of course requirements ensuring that only prepared students advance to the next grade. The bill has met resistance however from a group of superintendents who are circulating a plan under which high school students that pass only 17 percent of their end of course exams can still graduate under the recommended high school program.
The superintendents are promoting further increases to the loopholes in current standards for grade level advancement that allow underperforming students to move forward. According to Hammond Dialing back the standards even further is not the answer now nor will it ever be. If Texas is to end social promotion the performance of those children who are socially promoted must be an integral part of the academic rating that schools receive.
Their educationally bankrupt plan allows students to move onto the next phase of their lives without demonstrating basic understanding of science or social studies" said Hammond In this global economy the superintendents are advocating that student be allowed to graduate without the skills necessary to compete against the best and brightest in countries like China and India. The status quo has turned our high schools into dropout factories and our states ability to produce career or college-ready graduates continues to worsen."
A conference committee of Senator and Representatives are reviewing the bill to adjust differences between the two Houses.
Critics of the Texas public education system had hoped this legislative session would mark positive change in the academic standards for Texas children.
According to Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond SB 3 authored by Senate Education Chair Florence Shapiro ushers in that change.
TAB supports the public education accountability reforms outlined in Senate Bill 3 which sets a meaningful standard for end of course exams and will allow rigorous and relevant career and technology education to flourish in our schools" said Hammond in a press release sent out Thursday morning.
In 2007 the Dallas Morning News commented on the Commission for a College Ready Texas issued by Gov. Perry. The commission found that 50 percent of college freshmen in Texas were enrolled in remedial or developmental classes. Furthermore only 18 percent of Texas students who took the ACT a leading college entrance exam met college readiness benchmarks in all English math science and social studies. The report cited that the percentages of college readiness based off the ACT were even smaller for black and Hispanic students.
SB 3 tightens end of course requirements ensuring that only prepared students advance to the next grade. The bill has met resistance however from a group of superintendents who are circulating a plan under which high school students that pass only 17 percent of their end of course exams can still graduate under the recommended high school program.
The superintendents are promoting further increases to the loopholes in current standards for grade level advancement that allow underperforming students to move forward. According to Hammond Dialing back the standards even further is not the answer now nor will it ever be. If Texas is to end social promotion the performance of those children who are socially promoted must be an integral part of the academic rating that schools receive.
Their educationally bankrupt plan allows students to move onto the next phase of their lives without demonstrating basic understanding of science or social studies" said Hammond In this global economy the superintendents are advocating that student be allowed to graduate without the skills necessary to compete against the best and brightest in countries like China and India. The status quo has turned our high schools into dropout factories and our states ability to produce career or college-ready graduates continues to worsen."
A conference committee of Senator and Representatives are reviewing the bill to adjust differences between the two Houses.
