This article addresses the over-reliance on numerical data primarily in the form of test scores and argues that they are inadequate as sole sources of information about high schools. While the numbers may help to identify standards of excellence, they do little to raise awareness about the serious and constraining inequities that exist within and…

This article analyzes the legal classification of Mexican Americans as "other white" as argued in a number of critical court cases that beginning in the 1930s up to the 1970s attempted to desegregate public schools in Texas. Since the Texas constitution declared school segregation as being only for "colored children," Mexican…

In this testimony Scott McCown testifies on behalf of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. The center is interested in public school finance because education is the pathway to prosperity for low-income Texans. McCown's personal expertise in school finance comes from having presided as a state district judge over the state's school finance…

Testing has almost completely lost its identity as a device to increase access to college for the underprivileged. Testing today is seen as a device to deny access. Intelligence is randomly distributed among the rich and the poor, and testing helps remove privilege as a guarantee of success and advancement. (MLW)

Improving the quality of public education is high on the policy agenda in Washington and in state capitals throughout the country. Despite disagreement over specific policies, policymakers appear to recognize that an important element in any plan to improve educational quality is the measurement of student performance. Here, it is argued that most…

The quality of education received by children in the southern states will be greatly impacted by technological change, which will present educators with both unprecedented opportunities and substantial risks. As the four model programs described in this paper illustrate, advances in telecommunications and computer hardware and software can be used…

In 1989, the Texas State Board of Education undertook the responsibility for developing a 4-year plan and for establishing a vision for education that extends into the next century. This document contains the goals for education established by the 71st Texas legislature. The mission of public education in Texas is for it to be characterized by…

In support of educational excellence and equity, the Texas Education Agency views all state public education information resources and technology as strategic assets of the education enterprise. This plan is presented in support of the goals of enhancing instruction through technology, restructuring the data processing environment for…