Texas Education Board Approves Conservative Curriculum Changes By Far-Right. ***UPDATE*** Think Progress flags some of the more eye-opening revisions the Texas Board of Education approved for its social studies curriculum and textbooks: - The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, "replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.
" - The Board refused to require that "students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others. " The Texas Freedom Network live-blogged the debate over the changes. Read more here. April Castro, ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN, Texas — A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade. Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Sustaining Success Despite Budget Cuts. How a resource-strapped elementary school became a top-performing school with a homegrown, easy-to-implement differentiated instruction program.
At Mesquite Elementary, the additional half-hour of differentiated instruction every day has helped maintain the highest academic performance in the state, and it keeps teachers like Matthew Hough smiling (right). Credit: Zachary Fink It’s over 100 degrees and plumes of monsoon clouds threaten overhead, but inside Mesquite Elementary School, in Tucson, Arizona, teachers and students are cool as glass, and not just thanks to the air-conditioning. It's because they've got a system, and it's a system that works so well, it has propelled Mesquite to Arizona’s highest school rating, “excelling,” for the past eight years and has twice won it the prestigious A+ School of Excellence Award from the Arizona Educational Foundation.
All this while on a very, very lean budget. Differentiated Instruction: Fast Track to the Top Running Time: 04:08 min. Quick Tips for Succeeding On a Low Budget. Arizona's Mesquite Elementary is one of the top-performing schools in the state but has one of the lowest per pupil budgets.
Here’s how the school makes more out of less. Watch the video. Students do much of their work on erasable slate boards, which helps keep the school’s copy budget low; former principal Connie Erickson has come up with multiple ways to save money, such as the tips shared below. Credit: Zachary Fink Like many schools across the country, Mesquite Elementary School, in Tucson, Arizona, is constantly striving to make the most of a limited and, lately, shrinking budget. Connie Erickson, founding principal of Mesquite, and current principal Katie Dabney have found that fiscal creativity is key in finding ways to “squeeze a little water out of the rock,” as Erickson describes it. 1.
Any principal will tell you that losing teachers is one of the most painful consequences of budget cuts. 2. 3. 4. 5. It’s surprising what you can get by asking. 6. 7.