Bill Hammond says the new system will create a spike in school ratings. Like in the Dallas Independent School District, where more than 70 of its schools are expected to improve rankings. Hammond is president of the Texas Association of Business. He just wants to make sure the public understands better rankings don't necessarily mean good scores.
Bill Hammond: The Texas Education Agency makes the statement that it is -quote- academically acceptable for as many as 49% of the Hispanics to fail the science test. It's acceptable for as many as 44% of African-Americans to fail the math test."
The TAB joined several other groups to call on education officials to improve not only what is measured on the accountability system, but how well it's measured. Luis Figueroa is with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He says the way the state is calculating it's dropout rate is keeping the problem from being adequately addressed.
Luis Figueroa: We can not walk before we call. And we can not crawl until we know where we are. And right now we don't know where we are because we don't have an accurate reporting system in our dropout accountability system.
Now not everyone in the group agrees on what should be done to improve schools. The TAB has been a strong supporter of the state's low-tax, pro-business climate. While the Center for Public Policy Priorities would like to see a dramatic increase in school funding, the CPPP's Frances Deviney says more money will be needed - especially if schools become more successful at cutting the dropout rate.
Frances Deviney: In a study that we did back in 2006 we estimated that just for one class of kids, the class of 2004 - if they had actually, all the kids who started 9th grade - had actually graduated by 2004, it would have cost the Texas Education Agency about one-point-seven billion more dollars."
Public School accountability rankings will be released this afternoon.
Ben Philpott KUT news.
