The battle over standardized testing

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EL PASO—The battle over high-stakes student testing has never been more critical and nowhere more apparent than in El Paso, TX, where educators are morphing into criminals. El Paso Independent School District’s Lorenzo García, is the first superintendent in the nation to be convicted of fraud.  Sentenced in October, he is currently serving a three-year sentence for directing a scheme to hide and manipulate the scores of English Language Learning (ELL) students in state-mandated tests. Immigrant students trapped in the middle

From the day the El Paso Times broke this story last year, many have focused on, Los Desaparecidos –77 students who were coerced into dropping out of school by Garcia’s criminal tactics– but there are hundreds of thousands of students throughout Texas just like them.  Many blame the current educational system for making them disappear. “The one size fits all model does not allow for districts like ours to succeed. So what other ways are there if you can’t succeed?

Proposed Texas education cuts imperil Latino students’ future

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Impending massive budget reductions in flat-broke Texas are about to slam education’s door on its Latino youth, who at 2.34 million now comprise about half of its public school students. Experts and community advocates across the state agree on the danger it portents to the state’s economic future as well. Once among the nation’s wealthiest, the Lone Star State has become the Loan Starved State. It is grappling with a budget shortfall somewhere between $15 billion and $27 billion. The proposed solution by Gov. Rick Perry, with traction offered by conservatives within the GOP-controlled legislature, targets the schools.

Critics cite new driving test expensive and ineffective

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Texas new driving course

EL PASO, Texas — According to the Texas Department of Transportation almost 20 percent of automobile accidents are caused by adult drivers, ages 18-24. Since March, 2010, a new Texas driver’s license law has been in effect. For the first time driver license applicants from the ages 18 to 24 must now receive a certificate which states they have successfully completed and passed the six-hour adult driving course by the Texas Education Agency, before they can take the standard driving test to receive their driver’s license. This course, which costs $100, can be taken online or in person, but it has provoked speculation whether it is really necessary and whether it will be effective. This new law, Senate Bill 1371 passed by the 81st Texas Legislature last year, incorporates two series of tests, one which is highway signs and traffic laws.