AUSTIN – Eighty-seven percent of Texas school districts made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under a federal evaluation system created by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Among the state’s 7,956 campuses, 6,437 or 81 percent met or exceeded the AYP performance targets, Commissioner of Education Shirley J. Neeley announced today. In 2005, 78 percent of the campuses met AYP targets.

The Texas Business and Education Coalition (TBEC) announced that 268 public schools across the state had earned recognition on the 2006 TBEC Honor Roll.

“Schools get on our Honor Roll the old fashioned way,” said Jack Lowe, Chairman of TDIndustries in Dallas and TBEC’s Business Co-chair, “they earn it. For us the bottom-line is results. These schools help all students do well in all subjects.”

TBEC identifies the Honor Roll schools by analyzing three years of performance data for all Texas public schools. A school must have a high percentage of students meeting state standards on the TAKS tests in all subjects for three consecutive years, with an emphasis on how many students score at the state’s highest standard – commended – on all tests. Selection criteria account also for each school’s student demographics, the number of subjects tested and the grades served.

“This year’s Honor Roll Schools have achieved performance levels higher than any one could anticipate when the TAKS testing began four years ago,” said Mike McGuire President of Chemshare Corporation in Port LaVaca who heads up TBEC’s Honor Roll committee. “The success of these schools demonstrates that setting high standards and raising expectations for all students is an effective tool in raising performance.”

“A good education is another name for happiness.”

-- Ann Plato
Plato, a free African American who was a schoolmistress in Hartford, Connecticut, said this in 1841.

Every two decades or so, here in the United States, we panic about our schools. Like a fox crossing a barnyard, this panic sets education critics to squawking and sends educators searching for ways to overhaul the system.

What sparks such panic every time, it seems, is the perception that America is losing ground to another country in a competition

In the late 1950s, the other country was the Soviet Union, and the competition was the "space race." The Soviets shocked the United States in 1957 by launching Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. Four years later, they scored again by putting manned flight into space before we could.

Just like students are required to pass the TAKS test to graduate, teachers also must pass standardized tests to be certified to teach in Texas. Here are three sample questions from chemistry.

1. A total of 25.0 mL of silver nitrate solution is added to the liquid food product before a color change is observed. What is the mass of the silver ions added to the food product?

2. Which of the following equations could be used to represent the reaction occurring between the silver nitrate and the ions in the salty solution?

3. A descriptive study differs from a controlled experiment primarily in that a descriptive study involves:

A. measurement and interpretation of data but not quantitative analysis of data.
B. quantitative and qualitative data collection related to phenomena but not interpretation of data.
C. inferential conclusions related to observed phenomena but not deductive reasoning.
D. observation and analysis of phenomena but not manipulation of a variable.