Education Law

Deep in the heart of Texas…

One of today’s big pieces of education news comes out of Texas, where Aldine Independent School District won the coveted Broad Prize for Urban Education.  The two million dollar prize money that’s given away ($1,000,000 to the winning district and $250,000 to each of the other finalists) gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so.  Last year’s winner, Brownsville Independent School District, was also from Texas, and was also NSBA’s CUBE (Council of Urban Boards of Education) Award Winner for Urban School Board Excellence. 

So it seems that good things are coming out of Texas when it comes to educating underserved students, high minority populations of students, and school districts that are often looked at as having the biggest challenges among school systems.  Aldine was noted for their ability to close the achievement gap among different ethnic groups, which is a common denominator within urban school systems. 

It shouldn’t be a surprise that CUBE is heading to Texas for their Annual Conference in two weeks to showcase some of the changes that have reformed Texas districts, as well as awarding the 2009 Award for Urban School Board Excellence.  Texas has several large districts, and Aldine is the 12th largest district in the state with almost 60,000 students.  While they worked very hard to break down the barriers that hundreds of districts nationwide face, Aldine deserves credit for having scored well on standardized tests and raising student achievement.  Stay tuned for more from Texas in the weeks ahead.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).