Our 8th annual posters featuring the latest achievements of Texas public schools are printed and on their way to a school near you! Keep an eye out for a 9x12 envelope with our logo and be sure to decorate the walls and halls of your schools with these posters. 

BY VALERIE STRAUSS  

Here's a smart look at the spotty record of for-profit schools, by Larry Cuban, a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. 

By Larry Cuban

For all of the three-decade hype about how business practices applied to K-12 schools will make them more efficient and high performing, a short hop and skip through the past half-century of for-profit companies failing in the education market might illustrate how applying market-driven practices to improve schools and make money at the same time is hard to do for even the shrewdest of entrepreneurs.

In 1969, Behavioral Research Laboratory, contracted with the largely black Gary (IN) district to raise test scores in reading and math in the Banneker elementary school. They failed. BRL is no more.

Dorsett Educational Systems in 1970-1971 took over a school in Texarkana (AR) contracting to raise 350 children one grade level in reading and math after 80 hours of instruction. They failed. DES is no more.

By: Stephanie Simon

The drumbeat is hard to miss: Our schools are failing. Public education is in crisis. Our students are falling further and further behind.

The rhetoric comes from the left and right, from educators and politicians and lobbyists and CEOs and even Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The deep dysfunction of our public schools is said to threaten not only America's economy but also its national security.

But a vocal group of contrarians is challenging that conventional wisdom. The latest weapon in their arsenal: A new book out this week by education historian Diane Ravitch, who argues that the biggest crisis facing public education is the relentless message that public education is in crisis.

It's a debate with broad power to shape the nation's $600-billion-a-year investment in public education. Where's the truth? That's not always easy to discern. Here's a look at four key talking points - and the facts (and spin) behind them.  

Worth Ave. Group offers insurance policies perfect for K-12 schools wanting to insure electronic devices. Policies provide replacement cost coverage and protect the devices on and off school grounds. Insurance works perfectly for schools with 1 to 1 programs, designed to issue laptops, iPads or tablets to students and teachers.

TRUE or FALSE? 

Texas schools lag behind other states in student performance.

FALSE: Texas students in every major ethnic group significantly outscored their peers nationally on the 8th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science test, with the state's African-American students earning the 4th highest score in the country compared to their peers in all other states. Texas's Hispanic students earned the 6th highest score and the state's white students ranked 8th among their peers nationally. 

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