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TAB wants tougher accountability system
The Texas school accountability system is not doing a very good job holding schools accountable, Texas Association of Business president Bill Hammond said at a news conference Thursday.
“We can’t have a first-rate education system in Texas with a second-rate accountability system,” Hammond said.
He took issue with the recent decision by Education Commissioner Robert Scott to give school districts another one-year reprieve on tougher dropout rules. That decision kept some districts being labeled academically unacceptable.
And the standards are too low, said Hammond, adding that schools can be deemed “academically acceptable” if only 50 percent of their students pass math.
Texas businesses — Hammond’s membership — are the ultimate consumers of the Texas education system’s product and they are finding the product lacking, he said.
Hammond called on the Texas Education Agency and legislators to be more “honest” about how the education system is performing. But he didn’t have any specific recommendations to improve the system.
He did make clear that more money for schools is not the answer, according to TAB.
“If money were the solution, the problem would have been solved long ago,” Hammond said. “The public schools system in Texas needs to do better with what they have,” Hammond said.
There was a roomful of school superintendents last week who would probably disagree.
At a school finance summit organized by Scott, superintendents complained that the state is ratcheting up the performance standards but not given the districts the resources to improve the schools.
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By RBerry
August 8, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this
I’m sure Mr. Hammond is a very intelligent man, but he knows little about the education system. The problem is with the family, not the schools. The state legislature has made school systems responsible for everything from emotional health to student “fitness”. They just keep putting more and more responsibility on the schools because the family is not taking care of their own children - the “nanny state” at it’s worst. And, the system is currently set up under the assumption that all students are capable of acquiring a college education - not reality, not should it be. There will always be a demand for non-college educated people in the work force. The schools can’t fix all of societies’ ills!
By Rob
August 8, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this
Hanmmond is a dumbf**k. Why don’t he tell his businesses to hire American workers at American wagers instead of cheap illegal labor and then maybe more students would not have to force themselves to be college ready when they want to do trade work but not that option is reserved for illegals. The businesses f**k education for students in this track because they just want to make a profit. If Hammond gave a f**k about our kids then why doesn’t his businesses hire them.
By Rob
August 8, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this
Hanmmond is a dumbf**k. Why don’t he tell his businesses to hire American workers at American wagers instead of cheap illegal labor and then maybe more students would not have to force themselves to be college ready when they want to do trade work but not that option is reserved for illegals. The businesses f**k education for students in this track because they just want to make a profit. If Hammond gave a f**k about our kids then why doesn’t his businesses hire them.