The Ashley B. Cash Show
In this podcast, we will be exploring all aspects of education. We will discover where our system is successful and failing. Through conversations with teachers, chancellors, government officials and more, we will identify the problems and how to change them. It's time we flipped this education!
The Ashley B. Cash Show
Commissioner Mike Morath on Reform & the April 2026 SBOE Meetings
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What does it actually take to move the needle on education in a state as large and complex as Texas?
In this episode, we sit down with Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath — a product of Texas public schools who's been leading the Texas Education Agency since 2016 — for a candid conversation about what reforms are happening in education right now.
We break down everything that happened at the April 2026 State Board of Education meetings: what was decided, what it means for students in classrooms right now, and what parents, educators, and community leaders need to be watching in the months ahead.
Whether you're a parent trying to understand how state-level decisions affect your child's school, an educator navigating a shifting landscape, or a leader who cares deeply about the future of Texas kids — this conversation is for you.
In this episode:
- Key decisions from the April 2026 SBOE meetings and their real-world impact
- How TEA approaches education reform at scale
- What Commissioner Morath sees on the horizon for Texas students and schools
- What you can do as a parent, educator, or community leader
About The Ashley B. Cash Show: The Ashley B. Cash Show features conversations with education leaders, policy experts, parents, teachers and reform advocates who are working to transform K-12 education. Host Ashley B. Cash brings her perspective as both a parent and business owner to explore systemic education issues and practical solutions for creating better outcomes for students, families, and communities.
About Ashley: As both a mother and business owner, Ashley brings a unique dual perspective to education reform advocacy, driven by her desire for better educational outcomes for future generations and informed by her firsthand experience with the skills gap facing employers today. Her passion for transforming K-12 education stems from witnessing the real-world consequences of educational failures and recognizing the critical need for a system that prepares students for diverse career pathways, not just college. Through this podcast, Ashley champions solutions including aptitude-based education tracks, expanded school choice, practical skills integration, and alternative career pathways that align with students' individual strengths and interests.
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Welcome to the Ashley B Cash Show. I'm Ashley, and today I'm so excited to have a repeat guest, but he is really important to the state of Texas and to education. He is the heart of education leadership. Commissioner Mike Murray has served as the Texas Commissioner for Education since 2016. Appointed by Governor Abbott and unanimously confirmed by the Texas Senate. A product of Texas Public Schools himself, he came to this role with a deep commitment to results and a track record on the Dallas ISD board to back it. This is the conversation about TEA leadership and what real education reform looks like from the inside out. Let's get into it. Thank you so much, Commissioner Marie. Thank you so much for inviting me back. Yeah, I'm so glad to see you again. I mean, I know it's been it's been six months or more, and I know a lot has transpired in that time, and I'm hoping we can catch up. There's been lots of activity even this week. There's been a state board of education meeting. And would you start off by telling people kind of how things work? You know, a lot of people are watching the Texas legislature make big moves in legislation for education and then how that trickles down to the classroom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's really a great question. I think back to what we learn in high school government about federalism and sort of uh how the uh system of government's set up. So in Texas, uh the people elect the governor, the people elect members of the legislature, uh so you've got the legislative branch, the executive branch, the governor appoints the uh head of the Texas Education Agency, among others, um, and so that is me, uh, and subject to Senate confirmation, as you as you pointed out. But separately in Texas, also in the executive branch, you have the elected State Board of Education. Um, and so the State Board of Education is constitutionally charged with oversight of the permanent school fund. So we have about a$50,$60 billion endowment for K-12 education. We're the only state like this in the country. Um that provides two to three billion dollars a year without any taxes to the to fund public education. So one of the duties of the uh State Board of Education is to steward uh to serve as the fiduciary of that fund. But they also are then uh required by statute to oversee something called the TEAKS, uh, which are the content standards that we uh teach in school. They oversee the approval of new charter entities, new charter schools in Texas, um, and then they have a few other uh areas of authority related to training of school board members and and uh uh approval of of accounting standards for public schools. It's uh it's a very specific set of authority. Um then the uh the Commissioner of Education has other authority under state law. So for example, um the I have to oversee the assessment system and the accountability system. Uh it's my responsibility to actually pass out the funds that the legislature appropriates. So you have an elected body that has uh some authority, uh, and then you have the um uh sort of the governor's appointment that has um uh a lot of these other sort of executive branch authorities um uh related to oversight of public education. But separate from all of that, you have local school boards.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01So we have a thousand school uh school boards, locally elected school boards, and then we have another 200 independent charter organizations, these are nonprofit organizations that run public schools in Texas. Um and so uh they are really where the buck stops for this quality of a local school and a lot of specific responsibilities. And so I was a former school board member before I did this, and it's it's somewhat interesting when you think again like about federalism. School boards are there's no separation of powers. They are the legislative branch for that school district, they set all the policy that happens inside of that school district other than what the legislature has specified statewide. They are the executive branch, they hire and fire the superintendent, and they they're the superintendent's boss, they hold them accountable, they pay that person, etc. And then they're the judicial branch. If there are grievances, if a parent is upset about something that is happening in a school district, it is ultimately the buck stops with the school board. And so at the state level, both what the state board of education does, what the agency, TEA, and the commissioner uh uh do, you can think about that as sort of guardrails for the system. Uh uh I think of as sort of leadership guidance and support. But actually, uh accountability for outcomes is all at the local level in Texas. And I I realize this is the reason I ran for a school board in the first place. That school boards uh have incredible authority. They have very specific authority, but incredible authority to influence whether or not kids learn how to read, write, and do math. And this is I was fed up about the quality of schools in Dallas and decided to run for a school board there. And and we hired superintendents and oversaw significant policy improvements and significant improvements in learning quality for kids.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I you know, I try to help with policy and do some behind the scenes things, and and it's been confusing for me, and it's taken me five or six years to figure out who's in charge of what and how to like what the process is from the time a policy is established with the Texas legislature, and then a piece of it comes down to the TEA, and a piece of it comes down to the SBOE, and then it goes down to the school board, and then how it then gets rolled out. And at some point in time in the middle of there are the curriculum companies, right?
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. All your vendors that are selling stuff to school districts doing doing this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_00And have their curriculums been approved? And can they actually be taught in the classroom? And and I know that this week that you have been for a while now you've been helping work on the TEACS.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we provide so the agency provides support to the State Board of Education. The the State Board of Education is in charge of the something called the TEAKES. And this is this is a it's a great example of this what who is responsible for what in the system. And and I'm I want to come back to the local school board and what they're responsible for, and then the state board, the state board of education, and what they're responsible for. So um the way public education has been designed by our legislature really it's it works like this in virtually every state. Um there is a state uh set of learning standards for what kids are supposed to know and be able to do defined at each grade in each subject. So for example, in third grade, one of the content standards in mathematics is kids should have their times tables memorized. It's it's not phrased in that way, but that's what the standard says. Excuse me. In um in science in ninth grade, you need to uh understand all the cellular structures. It's a sort of key to a sort of uh uh uh biology concepts. So these kinds of things are defined. In second grade, and uh really in first grade, kids should have mastered a whole bunch of the letter sounds and the translation between letters and the written text, what we think of as phonics. Yes. So um these are the content standards that what are called the TEAKS, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. And they are uh established by the State Board of Education, and it is the law of the land that the local curriculum, so the specific lessons that a teacher uses any given day should be focused on getting kids to learn those standards. Um and then in grades three through nine, we test students uh uh to discern whether or not they have mastered those standards at the end of the year in just reading and math. So we don't really test them that much in social studies or in um in science. So uh this week the State Board of Education um went through a first reading, um, which is also important for build owners. You you the legislature passes law, uh, an executive branch agency will pass rule. Um and there's when you pass a rule, you first put it out for the public to see, then you wait a little bit, and then you have to do a second reading of final adoption. So this week the State Board of Education met and had its first reading um and an adoption of upgrades to the history standards uh for the state of Texas and for the literature standards for the state of Texas. And those are pretty big deals.
SPEAKER_03Very big deals.
SPEAKER_01Uh because they then set the stage for then what what the lessons need to look like. And this is what textbook publishers are supposed to create, but also local curriculum designers uh create. Um and then will ultimately have an effect on state tests um in several years. And I think that the state board is thinking about these things taking effect in the schools starting in the 3031 school year. Because you can see this is a big system, uh hundreds of thousands of employees, and so move slowly. That's right. So you make these changes now and give the field notice that teachers in a few years this is what needs to be taught. And in the meantime, curriculum writers, this is the curriculum you need to start writing, start today.
SPEAKER_00So, and how do you have updates for us today on how that went through the SBOE?
SPEAKER_01A majority of the state board did in fact approve for first reading a set of uh uh new set of social studies standards and then a majority uh approved literature, and I'll talk about those in two different pieces. So the they've really redesigned how history is the story of history is told. So the way that history uh standards worked before, in kindergarten through third grade, there was almost no real history in there. I don't know if you ever actually if somebody you can read these standards, anybody can put you can pull them on the internet, and it's sort of like know your community and know your place in the school. I mean, these are this is the the verbiage that kindergartners were expected to learn. Not not like, hey, tell me the story of Washington cutting down the cherry tree. That wasn't in there before. Um uh and uh and so then in fourth grade we would teach Texas history, and fifth grade you would teach U.S. history, which was was actually very difficult for students because you can imagine you're learning about the annexation of Texas into the United States in fourth grade, but you've never studied the Constitution or Westward Expansion, the original 13 colonies, because you don't get to that until you have no reference point for what was the United States at that time that Texas was doing that. Yeah, and so and we had this, we had to c in sixth grade there was a world cultures class, which was um which was interesting because it was sort of modern world cultures disconnected with any of the history that those cultures arrived at. Um then seventh grade again was was world or was Texas history and eighth grade again was U.S. history. But see, so it's not that the subjects were inherently bad. It's one, there wasn't much history for our youngest learners, which means you're not really strong give guilty giving kids a strong foundation in history. And two, for as kids are going across multiple years, history was not really told in a coherent story, so it was just hard to remember anything.
SPEAKER_00And now it's gonna be more chronological. That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_01So now what they've done is they put real history in kindergarten, first grade, second grade. Now developmentally appropriate, but kids kids can memorize things in first grade, second grade, and kindergarten.
SPEAKER_00I remember learning about cutting down the cherry tree.
SPEAKER_01The Nina, the pinta of the Santa Maria. Like these are things that you can learn in in those.
SPEAKER_00I think most adults my age, I'm about to be 54, remember that and probably are unaware that it was taken out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's that basically that stuff is was not part of our history standards for really the last 20 or 30 years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Um and uh and so there's there's what they've approved will have will have history in the earliest grades, uh really focused on just memorizing some of these key things of American history, Western, Western civilization, and then from third grade through seventh grade, a real chronological narrative of sort of the story of Western civilization arriving in America, and then Texas is sort of a capstone in eighth grade. And then we'll we'll test kids in eighth grade on what they just adopted as standards in eighth grade, which is uh uh a lot of the foundational documents of the U.S. Republic and then the story of Texas as the shining star of the of the Federal Republic.
SPEAKER_00So um uh that's which the only people who should really oppose that would be people who are not from Texas.
SPEAKER_01I would think so. Uh and frankly, I if you live in Georgia, you should still look learn about Texas history.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, let's just be honest, Texas is the best state. That's right in the Republic.
SPEAKER_01So um uh so they they did, they passed that to first reading, then they'll take public comment on this for the next several months, and um and they will get a lot of public comment on this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, they got a lot of public comment. I have friends who came down to testify, and just in case the viewers didn't know, you can come and testify. Like if you know what's going on and you want to come and make remarks, you can sign up and come and testify. You have to sign up ahead of time, there's a cutoff date, and then you can be here.
SPEAKER_01It's uh it was they had I think testimony for 12 hours of testimony. So we had you can also submit written testimony, just to be clear.
SPEAKER_00And I've had friends do both. Yeah, um, and I've had friends that drove from Lubbock, Texas, which is a long drive to come be down here to testify for this.
SPEAKER_01So this is this is how this is how our republic works. Yes. Um, so the um uh they will have another meeting, I think, in June. Well, that will be the second reading, and they'll make any final amendments they uh want to make to it. Um uh so that was social studies. This week was also pretty big um because of literature, so they adopted a literary works list. And so this is also, I think, confusing for people who aren't studying all of this. Yes, we we have had reading standards in the state of Texas for a long time. Uh and uh there's nothing there's nothing particularly problematic about the nature of the reading standards. It you know, find the main idea, identify what what is the author's point of view in the early grades, make sure you have strong phonics, uh handwriting. We have actually we've we've been legally required to teach cursive for a long time and uh based upon these standards. It's that that's not new, they've been in the standards.
SPEAKER_00It's just people weren't following them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's one thing to have the the laws on paper, people actually have to implement them. So um, but but but the thing about the the reading um language arts standards that have been adopted by the state board is they never said what should you read.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01Uh and and so uh if you if you think about the Texas Constitution has a phrase in it where in the article where we commit as a as a originally as a republic as and now as a state to educating our citizens, um the purpose of our system of education is to provide for a general diffusion of knowledge. Um by very definition, we are talking about common knowledge. We have a you know very diverse state, we all have different sort of backgrounds, people growing up in Dumas and Dallas. If we don't, if we don't have a common body of knowledge, how do we talk to each other? Right. Where do we um I think about sort of e pluribus unum uh and you know out of many one um we can have different perspectives, we can have different ideas, but we should have a common base of knowledge that we were all educated with so we can engage with one another in this republic. And so um what unfortunately has happened over the last you know 40 years is because it was not standard in any way, every school would choose whatever it would want to choose. And in some cases, the school district didn't make this choice, and they would you know hire a fresh, you know, freshman teacher, like a uh an individual right out of college, give them the keys to the classroom and say, please figure out what to teach children. And um, and that has not not been a recipe for success either for our students or for our teachers. No. Um, so uh what they did to today was approve a um a preliminary common base of literature, which uh by my math would be maybe about a uh a third of the school year. Um and so you have things like Charlotte's Webb in third grade and Stuart Little in third grade, a common in fourth grade, Treasure Island, uh I think the Wind in the Willows is on there, I can't remember what grade in there. Uh uh Lion the Witch in the Wardrobe, um, the great C. S. Lewis classic. Uh there's a uh Lois Lowry has written a uh a fantastic historical uh fiction about a family hiding, uh sort of escaping the Holocaust. It's actually it's a it's it's it's when you think about the topic, it's very intense, but this is a children's novel. And so that it's called Number of the Stars. It's great literature. That's on the on the list. Um uh there's a uh a children's adapted version of Don Quixote, kids will read in fifth grade, um uh is on the list. And in sixth grade, across five Aprils, this is the uh uh great civil uh civil war historical fiction, all creatures great and small. If you remember that classic, I'm not sure I've I'm not sure I've met a veterinarian in our state that isn't familiar with all creatures great and small. So the um uh the when you get into high school, they have Animal Farm uh in ninth grade, uh they have um Pride and Prejudice, uh the tragedy of Julius Caesar.
SPEAKER_00Uh so a lot of classics. A lot of classics. Or what we would all consider classics. Yeah, I think what most people would consider classics. That we nearly all of us have read in junior high and high school. That's right.
SPEAKER_01And and it the or third grade. The list was um, I think they put uh again, it's only about a third of the school year that they've that they have have codified into standard way, but it's also pretty thoughtful in terms of pairings. And so, for example, you have uh like Douglas MacArthur's Studio Honor Country speech from West from West Point, which is uh anytime I talk to a West Point alone, they were all required to memorize this. It's uh uh uh uh Teddy Roosevelt's Man in the Arena speech. Um you have uh uh you know a picture book of Frederick Douglass. It's in first grade. Um the um there's a lot of what I would consider um you know either speeches or primary sources, short stories that are uh really impactful to the American experience. Tall tales like Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed. These are these are in in the list. Uh foundational stories of our republic. And you have also great works of poetry, If by Ruderd Kipling, uh the uh uh Dylan Thomas you know do not go quietly into the good night, the um Walt Whitman O'Meo Life, uh uh Langston Hughes Dreams. Actually, there's I think several works of Langston Hughes on the on the list. So um just great literature. Um what you also have um on the on the literary works list is uh is religious literature that is part of our shared collective uh of knowledge base, regardless of uh a person's individual religious beliefs. So you have uh stories from ancient uh Roman and Greek polytheism that show up in modern culture all the time. Hercules, Icarus, and Daedalus, these these kinds of things. But you also have things like the parable of the prodigal son from Luke. Um you have the um uh uh selections from Genesis on uh the story of Adam and Eve out of this. So kids will be reading these stories to ensure that they are familiar with them. Because again, as you get to high school and you're reading these great works of literature, there are so many religious references in them that if you have not been educated in that way, how can you possibly know what the author is talking about? So uh so this was also um embedded in their uh literary works list.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, I think that it's important, no matter what religion that you choose or don't choose to practice, that you know where the history comes from.
SPEAKER_01Of course. Yeah, right. Um I mean I I know So you can contextualize it. My own personal religious views, uh, and I know what they are, and they're uh they're very strong. But I I I talked to someone the other day um who uh came from a different religious tradition, and she commented to me and she said, Yeah, when I was in grade school, somebody gave me um a graphic novel of the Bible, and I just ate it up as a as a fourth grader because I was like, oh, this is make this is telling me a lot of things that I hear that I didn't look at.
SPEAKER_00Or that your friends are talking about that you don't write and and I went to a private school in for seventh through twelfth grade in Dallas, um, and every week they would bring in a different, a pastor, a a shaman, a every religion came in. And I'm so grateful that they would come and talk to me about their religion because it made me understand people who practice that faith more, right? And I think that there is a lot to be said for just the understanding. It doesn't mean that you have to practice that religion, but because we live in a melting pot and because we are surrounded by people of every faith or no faith, their choice, um, we need to be able to understand them better. And I think that's really critical, especially in this day and age when you see a lot of division. I think the more that we can know about each other, the more we know about what each other think, the more that we understand what our country was founded on, the more that we can we can get along and be understanding.
SPEAKER_01Well, and that I I think that last point is so critical. So, you know, there there are a variety of faiths in the world. But if you if you're thinking about the story of America and our cultural tradition, the things that our founders actively had in their heads as they're framing uh the the the model of our republic, um, it is very clear um that understanding the uh the the The Judeo-Christian faith in particular is of importance. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia has an inscription on it. It's proclaim liberty to uh to all the inhabitants of the land. That is a direct quote from Leviticus. And so the the what are our students to do if they're trying to understand the sort of arc of American history? Right. If they're trying to understand our the foundations of our constitutional republic, if they are not given some uh uh knowledge, some exposure to this several thousand-year-old work uh that has been deeply, deeply influential in the in the thinking of of so many of us, even today.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I I 100% agree with that because you see things taken out of context all the time because people don't have that knowledge. Right. And that doesn't mean that they have to practice that, but to be able to understand is important. And I think that's part of where we've gotten so off-sink in our society and why people are having a harder time listening for understanding and and being kind to one another.
SPEAKER_01Not to belabor the point, staying on the reading list because it's just the Yeah, no, I'm glad you're back to it. Encouraging students to engage with rigorous texts that can help broaden their understanding of the world. In the on the literary works list that the board just adopted, there's a Ayn Rand essay on capitalism. And she makes the argument that that you must have economic freedom in order to have intellectual freedom.
SPEAKER_03True.
SPEAKER_01Um there's an essay from Thomas Sowell, uh. It's called Flattering Unction. Uh he's a great economist, um, and he talks about the problem of groupthink in modern America and how we um reflexively um shut out uh alternative views um based upon our ideology, even when evidence says otherwise. And so, you know, these are the kinds of literary works that our students will wrestle with, that they will engage with, that um will help them grow and think and understand the the uh uh the world around them and then themselves understand uh literature that they want to read for the rest of their lives.
SPEAKER_00And you know, I know sometimes there are people who say, well, the school shouldn't force that on people. But this is my point. As a parent, you can look at the list, you can know what your child is reading, and you can have discussions with your child about this book as they're reading it so that they know your thoughts and what you think, right?
SPEAKER_01This is exactly right. I mean what one of the dilemmas that we have now is it is it is so opaque, it is so difficult for a parent to know what is my child studying this week.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01Um uh and uh we we talked, I think last time we were together about the uh uh so unrelated to the state board of education, we've we've been providing school districts. The state of Texas has made a significant investment in something called the blue bonnet learning. Yes. A set of of uh it's reading language arts elementary school and it's math through uh algebra for algebra too. And the the reading language arts lessons that were built uh for these uh for these blue bonnet learning lessons, every unit comes with a parent take-home letter and says, this is what your child is fixing to read.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01The uh the uh we don't want to shy away from the topics. You need to know this is these are the topics that are that are coming up. Um and then there's a set of guiding questions. Hey, you can you can engage with your child at home. Um and uh we we do that because one, uh we want to make sure parents are in charge. Uh but two, the the you can extend the learning in so in so many ways. Parents parents are in charge. But it is, you know, parents have chosen to send their kids to school. This is meant to be a partnership between the school and the parents.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. But I think this list, I think what I want parents to take away from this is now you will actually have more control because you will know what they're going to be reading at least what a fifth of the year based on this list. Um you will have these, you will know these books are upcoming. And the other, and so then you can have the conversation with your kids, you can pre-read them if you want, so that you can have those conversations. If you didn't already read them or if you forgot, like me, you you can go read them now, and then you will be able to have this interaction with your child and impart your morals, values, and ethics in relation to these books.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and I think that's more important. I mean, I think that's what I really want people to get is this is making it better and easier for parents. You will, versus not knowing what the teacher's picking, you now know that they for sure are reading these two books this year.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that's exactly right. I you know, I'm not just Commissioner of Education, I'm a dad. So the this conversation is bringing it back home. So last night, um I have four kids range uh from seventh grade to uh we have twins that are in second. So my my uh child in the middle is in fourth grade. His school happens to be reading Lionowitz and Wardrobe this year. Um uh I know this because not because it was given to me at the beginning of the year that I had this list. I know it just because he happened to take the book home and he's reading it. But um and so last night I get to help him with his homework and we're talking about what the what the book means and the sort of allegory in this particular reference. Um and you know these are these are priceless moments between parents and their children. They are um and so anything that we can do to improve the transparency of schools, that this is what your children will be reading, this is the history they will be learning, this is the science that we are doing, this is the math that we're doing. Um uh and um you know, you are the parent. Um please lead. This is what we're doing in partnership with you.
SPEAKER_00And I think that that's the most one of the most important things that we're doing in the revision of the TEACS, in in adding these literacy um canons. I forgot what you're calling them, but um, because it does allow that transparency and it allows the parents to be even more involved. Yep. As they choose, right?
SPEAKER_01Well, that was this week at the State Board of Education. Um and again, I'm not on the State Board of Education. I am I am staff support for them, so they've they've done yeoman's work on this.
SPEAKER_00It's been fascinating to me to see um in this process for me to see and learn. Oh, and and by the way, if you hear any weird noises, apparently we're starting construction next door, so bear with us. So to the viewers, we just had to move sites because construction started up next to us that was very loud and was going to be very interrupting. So we just wrapped up what happened at the State Board of Education this week, and now we're in a new location, but the conversation continues. Yeah, so thank you for allowing us to stand up and move med podcast. No big deal. It's totally fine. Um, so I was about to ask you about the civics testing and the civics training and explain to the viewers why that's so important. I think it's I think it's critically important, but explain why it's so important.
SPEAKER_02So several years ago, the legislature passed a law uh to uh require us at the state level to build a civics training program, and then they they create stipends so that one teacher and a principal from every school in the state of Texas can go through this, a Civics training program. So uh uh about two months ago, we finished the training and got approved by the State Board of Education. They have to sign off on the training. And so this summer we will launch uh on a statewide basis with probably 9,000 um school employees, a teacher and a principal at elementary schools. Uh a I think it's a three-day, it's a two or three-day deep dive into teaching civics in elementary school. And so what we have um built is really a a trip through primary sources critical to the republic. And and we have the teachers delve into this uh in detail, talk about the context of what was happening in the republic, um, uh to ensure that they have the core content knowledge first. And then go into what does this look like in a first grade, second grade, third grade lesson, and have sample lesson activities that this that the teachers can walk uh the students to really focused on, I would say predominantly what you think of as civics knowledge, the things that the way that our government works.
SPEAKER_00So the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, like the most important founding documents of our republic.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And and you you if you want if you want young people after they have graduated high school to understand civics, putting all your eggs in the basket of a one-semester high school government course is not a recipe for success. It's too much knowledge in too short a period of time.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02You have to spread it out and give kids sort uh regular exposure to this content throughout their journey. And in in elementary school, you're trying to establish civic habits. This is um recognizing that you can debate and you can you can engage in um you know serving your neighbors. Uh uh, but it's also about understanding our republic, that there is a constitution. There was, you know, by by the time a student finishes second, third grade, you can kind of establish that there's three branches of government. Yeah. Um, and so I I talked to my own kids. So what's the because I I'm a member of the executive branch. So I'm a lot. Yes. And this is not just an abstract study at the Marath household. So uh so my kids all know that I'm part of the executive branch, and they know the executive branch is about executing laws. So, um uh so this is what we cover in our uh statewide civics training program. So it rolls out for the first time this summer. So I'm very excited about the then the downstream impact that that will have on our uh schools. There's a there's a uh a model for this that we've gone through as a state already. Um they called up the reading account. Uh and so we as a state of Texas invested very significantly in ensuring that all of our elementary reading teachers know how to teach reading, know phonics, know how to teach phonics, how to teach handwriting, the uh and grammar and syntax and uh uh can recognize sounds in the English language. This these all the skills that kids need to learn how to read. So the reading academies uh have been rolled out um uh tens, in fact, over a hundred thousand classroom teachers in Texas trained on the reading academies. That's good. And it's it already has has had an impact. So you we are seeing more solid instruction in phonics uh now in Texas classrooms than we have in the last two decades. Uh so that hopefully we'll have lower levels of dyslexia uh and we have more kids that are reading. But now the goal for the state is to do the same thing in civics.
SPEAKER_00And I think it's so critically important that the every child get the basic foundation. And I think that is in essence what we are trying to reinstate. And I think there are a lot of viewers that would be surprised to learn that for the last 10, 15, 20 years, those those basics were not being covered or being adequately covered. And this is like us trying to put that reinstate them because according to data, perhaps some of the things that we used to do are better than some of the things we had been doing, but we're trying to reinstate and improve.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, really a return to the fundamentals. And we the the standards that are adopted by the State Board of Education had phonics in them, but it wasn't as emphasized. Uh, our colleges of education uh on uh will very rarely cover this subject well in teacher training programs. And so we had a number of schools doing this and doing this well, but it wasn't consistent. And when you think about public education as the great equalizer, if that uh we want every child, all five and a half million souls in Texas public schools to be well educated, then it can't just be working in some schools, in some classrooms on some days. And it has to be working in all schools, in all classrooms, every day. For all children. This is this is what this is uh what will allow us to meet our moral prom a challenge, the moral promise that we the duty that we owe to the next generation. So again, I'm excited about these reforms that the legislature has passed, the state board is is supporting because I think it will be of significant support to our classroom teachers, our principals, um, so that our our local school systems can be more effective in their um in their administration of their of their schools.
SPEAKER_00And you mentioned earlier that one of your other jobs, and is very related to making sure that every child gets the good instruction and the good the good education, right? But one of your other responsibilities is not only testing, but also accountability. Right. And I know in Texas we have certain laws that say when schools aren't performing well according to the testing, that they can be taken over. And would you explain to people a little bit about how that works, how many years a score a school fails, what does it mean to fail, what does the DNF mean, so that they understand, and then we'll and then we'll talk more about what you do after that.
SPEAKER_02Uh this is uh this is a very important and and great topic. Let me let me kind of walk through the the the journey. And in fact, I'll go back to my own lived experience. So I ran for office as a uh to be a school board member in 2011. Uh before this, I was running a software company. Um and if you're a a member of the governing body, your your job is oversight. So you're not you're not doing day-to-day activity. Your job is to make sure the system is working, that the outcomes of the company, or in this case, the school district is is delivering on its on its service mission to uh to children and families. One of the basic questions you have to ask yourself is are we better this year than we were last year? Are we the same or worse? Um and if you're running a private company, as it turns out it's actually very easy to answer that question. You look at earnings per share. Um you know, the bank account doesn't lie, it's going up, it's the same the same or it's going down. But if for public schools the question is, is it working? That is much more complicated because it that the is it working question is not how much money did we spend. That's not how much pa how many people we employ. That's not is it working? Those are important parts of the conversation, but that's not is it working? Is it working is how well are the students reading, writing, doing math, how much history do they know, how much science do they know? Um are we growing good kids, healthy kids? These this is the outcome. So uh this is the reason why we have tests. Uh uh, and and this is not a radical concept. Everybody has uh like I have my kids, they do do assignments at school every day, and they like you know, I can tell from the assignment, well, you learned today's lesson or you didn't learn today's lesson. So we have um in Texas in grades three through nine in reading and math, we have a a test at the end of the year um that is designed to tell us, did you learn all your third grade math? Yes or no. Um and in fact, it's not just yes or no. It's uh uh we provide information that says the child does not meet grade level or is approaching grade level, is meeting grade level or is mastering grade level. So it's kind of one of the arranged. Um and you know, your goal is you want everybody to meet grade level at the end of the year, at the very least. And ideally, every master, yeah. So um so we use um we use that. We look both at how many kids did in fact meet grade level at the end of the year, but uh because we don't live in a perfect world, you can imagine a school where all the fourth graders start as first graders. They're behind for one reason or another. So we also look at last year's scores and how much growth did the child have. Um, and so we when we put together an A threading for a school, what we're telling the public, what we're telling parents is This is the general percentage of kids doing well at the school. Um, either because we're getting them, they're proficient, they meet the the they they learned all their fourth grade stuff, or if they were way behind, they're starting to catch up.
SPEAKER_00This is that's and you can tell that when you have the two years of data. You can see where they were and did they improve measurably, right?
SPEAKER_02And so it's actually gonna get even better. The legislature just replaced our end-of-year test with three little checkpoints in the middle of the year, so we can tell intra-year growth uh for the kids. We'll be able to give even better information to parents. Parents are entitled to information within like a week of it coming out, so they know exactly how the kids are progressing in class. This we're a few years away from this becoming a thing in Texas, but they they've repealed the star tests and will replace it with these short progress monitoring um uh uh uh assessments to help tell parents and know how well their kids are growing. But we then use that to make a thref ratings for the schools. And so um uh I'm gonna give you a couple of numbers related to this A-thref system because when I tell people these numbers, they usually get kind of frightened. Um uh we are defined in A as 60% of the kids meet Grama. Um that's that's that is not high.
SPEAKER_00That's not high, that's not good. I mean, in in my generation, that would be considered a D. Yeah, it's a D you know what people think of as a Yeah, and 100% the you know, you kind of think 90 above is an A, but you're saying an A is 60% are at or above great level.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it we this has been it is that has been the standard for uh almost 10 years. Um and the legislature just passed a law saying no, we need to raise the standards so that Texas becomes one of the top five performing states in the country. So we'll we'll be raising these standards based upon that goal of trying to raise the level of of performance in our schools and support our kids. Um uh but but then let me tell you what an F is so um uh if 36% of your kids are on grade level on a campus, it's not an F, it's a D. Um that's how low the bar is for an F. But but wait. Remember I said we grade you on the better of growth or proficiency. So you could have only 10% of your kids on grade level, and if 56% of your kids gained a year in a year's time, you're a D and not an F.
SPEAKER_00So you give them one grade level up if they had improvement.
SPEAKER_02Yes, but but for only 56%, meaning uh you will not be an F if more than a third of your kids are on grade level, or at least half your kids are learning over the course of the year. If either one of those things is is true, more than half your kids are learning, or more than a third of your kids are on grade level, you're now higher than an F. So an F is a is a very low level of performance, and it should be a Danger Will Robinson alarm bell for an entire community.
SPEAKER_00Well, I want to be like, if your kids are in a B school, it should be danger Will Robins, like you need massive help. Um, because that's that's not okay. We're leaving too many kids behind. I mean this is the reason we want to. Yeah, why I mean, and I'm not saying you and I'm not saying the teachers, I'm just saying the system, like we need improvement, which is what you're trying to work for.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, and I'll say nobody wants to.
SPEAKER_00No, nobody wants this, but how do we fix it? But yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02At the end of the day, we've got to deliver results. I've got to teach kids how to read, write, and do math. That's reasoning we sent so um the the uh the legislature, you know, has this Aetherf framework so that uh I I think about this first as a former school board member from Dallas. Aetherf is the most useful thing for me as a school board member ever, because I can very quickly tell is my management team or my administrators in the wake they're working with my my teachers, are we making progress or not?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02Uh, you know, if and and I'll say if if we get a C this year, if we were a D last year, that we celebrate that. Right.
SPEAKER_00This is this is improvement. This is the the claim. That's what we want improvement.
SPEAKER_02We don't live in a utopia. Today is what it is. The question is, is the action plan that we come up with for today, does it lead to a better tomorrow? And then I need to look. And you know, if I as a as a school board member, my philosophy was I'm gonna hire a superintendent. I want to I want to hire a school superintendent, I need them to lead, I want them to lead instruction, I want them to improve curriculum. I'm gonna let them run the district. And I'm gonna give them three years. Uh, I'm gonna look and see this is where we are. And if three years later we have not improved, I need to find somebody else. Um uh if it if if a year later we've massively improved, I want to give you a big bonus. I mean, this was this is the basic worldview. Right. I want our schools to get better for kids.
SPEAKER_00Yes, every year that's an improvement.
SPEAKER_02So um uh we in Texas don't just have that. We don't just have A3F to support school boards and support parents and taxpayers so they know how well their schools are are uh gaining. We also have a provision of law that is um, I think a deeply moral law. Um uh so again, don't know what anybody's personal faith view is, but I'm governed by a creed that says that that you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02And the the the state of Texas has a law on the books that um will start with we have a structure of public education that is predicated that local school boards that you're closest to the problem, you're closest to the parents, we want you to solve the problem, we have confidence in you, get it done. But if you have an F campus, not just once because you can have an on tier. If you have an F campus, five years in a row, this is an entire cycle of of children who have gone through a school that have very little um education to prepare them for success in America. Right. Which is not okay. Um uh then the legislature requires the agency to intervene.
SPEAKER_00And so if And that's what you call a takeover of school. Yeah, that's uh or what what what not not you but what some people call we we we intervene and might hear it see it in the newspapers.
SPEAKER_02There's multiple levels of intervention. Um one of the one of the uh things that happens is if you reach this, if you cross this Rubicon, the legislature has said, look, you know, public education exists for the betterment of all children, not just some. No matter how big the district, no matter how small the district is, if you have five years in a row of failing schools, this is systematic local Nidlet. Um and so uh we either are required, I specifically, it under state law, am required to order that that school is closed, or I order the the elected, the local elected school board to be replaced with an appointed board and a higher new superintendent. Um and that's that's what happened. Yeah, it uh it is thankfully exceptionally rare. Um there are a thousand school districts in Texas in 20 years. This has happened 15 times. Um, but um uh but when it happens, it is it's our moral duty to to support our students. And so um uh we had intervened um uh uh a few times. Thankfully, our interventions have almost uniformly produced academic improvements. Right. Um there are a couple of times that we will intervene for non-academic reasons. There was uh some school board members that were indicted for fraud. This has happened, and that that also is thankfully very rare, but then we have to intervene in that case too. So to turn around the like a culture of corruption every once in a while. Um and we do that. We turn around and we give it back to the local elected uh board and and and then go. So on the academic side, every academic intervention we've ever done has been successful.
SPEAKER_00And let's talk about one that has been somewhat more in the headlines recently, and that was when the state, the TA, we're gonna use quotes here, took over, intervened in the Houston ISD. It's been all over the newspaper. There's been really negative talk about it. They're like the state overstepped, they came in, they did all this stuff. It's been hard, it's been difficult. And yet the numbers, the data is pointing to the fact that it has been good for all these kids.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the intervention in Houston is uh has resulted in so much positive change for children that there are tens of thousands of kids at Houston that will have access to the American Dream but didn't before. Uh so we have in in in 24 months, uh and the intervention has been going on for about 30 months so far, so it's about to see the results of the third year.
SPEAKER_00So we're two and a half years in. That's right.
SPEAKER_02So uh there were 120 F and D rated campuses uh wow the year we intervened. And two years later, there were no F campuses and 18 D campuses.
SPEAKER_00So that's vast improvement.
SPEAKER_02And uh just in say mathematics. It was a uh 9% increase in the in the in the number of kids who are on grade level in mathematics. And this this doesn't often mean so they could these numbers don't mean anything to people without some context. Remember, there's 170,000 kids in Houston I State. So there's there's ballpark 17,000 more kids that are gonna be doing basic algebra the way you'd need to be able to do algebraic reasoning. You're you know, they're their times tables memorized, they're gonna be able to like calculate fractions. If they go to Lowe's and they're trying to like buy lumber, they can figure out how much they're gonna have lumber that they need to buy. This is this is now possible for 17,000 more kids in Houston than it was two years ago. Right. Um, this is significant improvement in the lives of those uh students, but uh it it's um it has resulted in uh a lot of change for adult employees. Um, and so uh there's been a turnover in the district.
SPEAKER_00Um uh but and so there are people who are unhappy with what has happened in adults who are unhappy with what has happened in their life that no longer have a job that they had before, and they're unhappy, and so they're putting out their version of a story or sometimes false stories. They're unhappy, so they're putting out bad things in the news. And that I need the uh the viewers to understand that there are actually some really positive things happening in the Houston ISD for these kids as a result of the center band.
SPEAKER_02Again, as a former school board member, I ran for elected office twice. Um, the kids themselves don't vote.
SPEAKER_00No, um, and so we're Nor do they know if they're getting a bad education.
SPEAKER_02All I'm doing is there's an assignment the teacher gave me. Right. I'm gonna work and work my hardest that if that assignment was below grade level rigor, or if the teacher didn't call on me, so I didn't get a chance to really think about the question, then um, you know, this is this is the the dilemma. And you know, so many of our debates about school actually come down to a fundamental disagreement that we as Americans have with ourselves on on brigor. How how much work should our kids be doing in school? How hard should that work be?
SPEAKER_00I think it should be hard to test their mettle and to show them what they're really capable of. And I think that we have done a disservice to kids by lowering our standards and being nice, and I'm using air quotes on purpose because that's what everybody says that we need to be nice, we need to be kind. I want these kids to have the best opportunity in the world, and that means that we need to elevate the standards. My grandmother had a great saying kids will live up to or down to your expectations.
SPEAKER_02That's exactly right. And when we think about why we why do we have these tests in Texas? Why do we have at A3F ratings in Texas? Why do we intervene? Fundamentally, it's about expectations. The state um has certain expectations for kids. These are not arbitrary expectations, they're actually based on a lot of data. We can um if there's here's an interesting fact. The measure of a student's math proficiency on a third grade standardized math test has a higher degree of correlation to their lifetime income than the level of health that the student has in third grade. Um uh and these are actually still both low correlations because life, thankfully, is more dynamic than this. So about all the mistakes that I've made over my life. Like we can we can change, humans can change. But but it's important that we we provide education that is rigorous, that we have some evidence base that this is in fact this this will one, it will make our kids work, but it will it's not it's not too hard. It's in the it's in the Goldilocks zone, and it's tied to them being successful later in life. This is the standard that we set. A lot of our kids significantly exceed that statement, which is wonderful.
SPEAKER_00Um, and there are But we need to do for the least among us.
SPEAKER_02This is exactly right. We want we want public education to be the great equalizer, and you cannot you cannot have a republic that is sustained for 250 more years without a citizenry that is educated, that uh that can that can sustain our quality of life, that can use the property rights that we have to to act in our own self-interest, to take care of myself and my family, but that can also then engage in citizenship uh as a member of the republic. This is what we want to be true. And in you can go back to the to the writings of the founders again. There were founders that wrote about education, and they they talked about the need for a system of common schools, a system of openly available schools, so that we can we can raise the next generation on the stories of our republic and on on Euclid and uh and Shakespeare in the Bible with that the the all the values that we ha hold dear in this republic. This is this is what our founding fathers set out when when in many states, our states' constitutions say we should have a system of public education.
SPEAKER_00And it's so critical. You know, one of the reasons I joined this, I'm gonna call it fight, but joined the attempt to reform or to improve the schools is because I see that very thing, right? That if we are not educating every single child so that they can read and they can communicate and they can problem solve and they can think critically, then not only are we doing a disservice to that child who can now not really pursue the opportunities that our great country provides, but we are doing a disservice to the entire community, right? Because that child is not going to be living their best life and more than likely may need some help, right? That we need to educate every single person so that they can, for themselves, do whatever their opportunities are, that they can pursue them in the best way possible.
SPEAKER_02This is uh I couldn't agree more. But the uh a rising tide raids raises all boats. And so that we want all of our yellow people to be um to be equipped for the American dream. Yes. And they they will fail. I failed multiple times.
SPEAKER_00I failed multiple times too.
SPEAKER_02But what we want public education to do is to to equip them for the journey uh so that they can struggle and they can fail and they pick themselves up and they can dust themselves off and try again, um, uh that they can in engage in what modern America provides for its citizens.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So right now the law reads that if they have failed D or F or failed for five years in a row, you intervene.
SPEAKER_02That's right. So F five years in a row, D extends the calendar by up to two over two years.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So I mean, as personal, I would like to see that shortened. I don't think that we should be use losing an entire four years of kids, five years of kids, six years of kids. Kid only gets one shot at the street. You know, and or how about they it they failed their entire high school year and now they're out of school, right? I mean, I just think, but I guess that's not in our hands. It's in the legislators' hands. So parents call your legislators, tell them failing for five plus years is not okay. It needs to be shortened. Um, but so let's talk a little bit about how you get to those. You you talked about how you get the let's talk about the testing that goes along with that. And I know this last legislative session, we went from the star test, which everybody hated and thought it was horrible for these kids. It's too long, it takes days, dah dah dah dah da. And they they wrote a new law and it's now gonna be three smaller tests a year.
SPEAKER_02That's right. So there's a there's a bunch of substantive changes they require. So we're required to build this test. We TEA is required to fill this test, and there's there's actually a a set of tests that that districts will well, school districts will be able to use, not just one. Um, and so it's gotta be short.
SPEAKER_00Uh uh short meaning an hour, two hours.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it depends on the age of the child. So they're they're like uh about I want to say like 90 minutes max in elementary school, and then probably two to uh hours in middle school, it could be a little longer than I and then they may do this three times a year or so it'll be spread out. The ones earlier the year have to be shorter than the ones that's at the end of the year. There's um uh uh we've got eight results really within about 48 hours back to the so that both the school and the family. Um, we want to be able to tell the both the school and the family this is how well the kid is in absolute terms, and then this is how much growth happened since the last testing of for Jerry. So it's very clear to people. And so I can tell, hey, my kids in the 75th percentile of growth, but only the 50th percentile of achievement.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so my kids grow with this is good, but still doesn't know anymore still still missing some part of fourth grade or whatever.
SPEAKER_02So um uh there's a um so and they uh they eliminated one test in high school as part of this. So we test we basically just go from from third grade to ninth grade. There used to be a test in tenth grade, so that was eliminated. Um uh and the the uh uh it's it it the goal is also to be more informative for the teachers. So one of the the design changes to this test is when you take it at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, um, the test is going to be designed like a uh a choose your own adventure book. You remember these adventure books for childhood? So a student gets one question, uh answers it well, then the next question is a smidge harder. Okay. Answers it poorly, then the next question is it is a smidge easier. And what that does is very quickly you can diagnose these are the gaps that the the child has, and then teacher, you know this, it's it's it's January, you can make adjustments in real time to try to support that. So that diagnostic uh nature of the test is also wholly new. And so that'll be part of the the new um uh the new system.
SPEAKER_00And that's great.
SPEAKER_02And then um at the end of the year, uh moms and dads will be able not only to see the score, but they'll be able to go to our website, log in, and see every single question that the kid answered and exactly how the kid answered it, uh, what the right answer was. Um, and this includes even an essay. So you'll be able to see what your kid wrote in fourth grade for the essay on Treasure Island, for example, and you can see exactly how the kid, uh your your child, uh son or daughter answered that question. So you can tell me, I uh I think this is invaluable as it's for sure. So I I know exactly what I want to do. If I need to do some sort of summer tutoring or whatnot with my child, I can do that.
SPEAKER_00And correct me if I'm wrong, but the new literacy works list that was approved today in the SBOE is going to interact specifically with that test.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Now, um it's a it's kind of a weird timing thing. So the new literacy list, I think, is gonna take effect in the 3031 school year.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02So in the 3031 school year, when the child isn't taking the reading tests, they might read uh uh O'Meal Life by Walt Woodman in uh seventh grade, whatever it is. And that's that's what they read on the test, and then they answer a set of interpretation questions about that. Right now, they're reading some random passage, and it's not like we don't it's not the these are not meant to be foolish passages. We we deliberately choose passages that are typically about some topic in history or science that they have already studied. But it is a it is what what educators will call a cold read, you know, from scratch. Um, and then you just have to find the main idea and analyze the text. There will still be some cold read passages on the new the replacement test, but it will be a lot of these literature that is now part of the standards that state bored about, which is very exciting. Six sixth grade uh student will see a snippet from all creatures great and small and then have to have to respond to this, which is what's what's supposed to be. You teach this curriculum, you test it at the end of the year.
SPEAKER_00So basically they will read that, maybe they read five books during the school year. Two of them they will know as as of today, the SBOE, two of those books that year, they will know ahead of time. Those two books, all creatures great and small, something else, they will then be tested with passages from that book on the test, correct? So just for clarification, um, I think that's really critically important because before this, we've just been teachers picking books, and then at the end of the year, we're create we're pulling passages that maybe don't relate to what the books were. I think that will be a much better way to truly assess what the kid has learned during this whole year. This is exactly right.
SPEAKER_02I think it's much fairer for teachers. Uh, because uh, hey, this is what I'm supposed to teach, and now I'm tested specifically at this what's test is on. So it's this is a huge improvement. And now again, we're several years for full implementation, but it's this is this is good news for the future five and a half million souls in Texas Bowl schools.
SPEAKER_00Now, as a parent, I'm sitting there going, well, I want all five books, right, for the year to be, you know, on the list and to be on the test. I don't want there to be that separation of, well, I don't know what books those other three books are going to be picked. And so therefore they also aren't gonna be on the test. Like I want, I want to know these are the five books my kids are reading during the year, and instead of it being a uh a teacher choice, please.
SPEAKER_02This is a that is a good policy discussion at the state board of education.
SPEAKER_00I think it is. I think it is. So, parents, tell them you want to know what all the books are. Anyway, all right. Well, we're coming to the end of our time. What are the other things you would like the viewers to know as we sit here today? Just having had that school board meeting, what else are you working on? What else, what else do you need parent help with? What should parents be paying attention to?
SPEAKER_02You know, the the uh that was a lot.
SPEAKER_00That was a really good question, giving a second.
SPEAKER_02I mean, first and foremost, uh, you know, try to keep track of what your kids get in assigned at school. What's the homework look like? Do you have to access the classwork? Talk to your teacher. Um, education works best when it's this active partnership between the parent and the and the classroom teachers. Um, and so this is important. Advocating for improvement for the school system is a little different. Um uh and uh you know, I lost my mind and ran for school board. So uh this is uh um this is what you know, we do need good school board. And good school board members need to understand the things that are in their locus of control and take action on them. I remember talking to a great board member from the panhandle, um, not too far from your backyard. And uh uh this person recently gotten elected, and several of the colleagues said, Well, and he said, Oh, I want to run on on this, this, and curriculum. Uh and I said, Well, the curriculum is all set by the state, but it's not it's not really true. No, the standards are set by the state. Um, the state then provides you access to vetted instructional material, but you can choose any instructional material as long as you're uh generally aligned with the with the teaks. And as I mentioned, that means you get to pick like four or five uh uh big novels, a bunch of little short you know, texts. So um I think school board members should pay much closer attention of curriculum in that's and in their schools, the content that teachers are using. And and and this, and so parents can do the same. Um, hey, where do I go on your website to see what's the social studies curriculum? Like, and I don't mean the standards, I mean what's next week's lesson? What's the unit that I'm in? Are you using a textbook? What is the textbook? Uh where did the lessons come from? And uh uh school districts are actually legally required to post all the stuff under our side, but sometimes it gets done, sometimes it doesn't. And um uh it's ultimately parents are like, hey, this hasn't been done, and I then I could you you you do what's called a local grievance and the district fixes that problem. So enforcement is kind of up to parrots. This is um this way our law is is somewhat predicated. We we also do a lot of enforcement at TEA uh too, but uh you can five complex with us. Um uh and then you know talk to your school board members. Um but it's best, you know, it's always almost always best to try to solve the problem locally. But it was it's it's good to understand how the system works all the way to us.
SPEAKER_00Yes, for sure. And so parents, number one, be involved. That is the number one factor that determines whether a child is successful in school is parent involvement. Number two, know your kids' teachers, know who your school board members are. And if they're not doing the job that they need to do, you need to intervene and find someone that will do that job better and put them up for the next school board race or do it yourself. Anyway, I just want to thank you so much for coming today. Will you please tell everyone where they can go to find the A through F so they can find their school?
SPEAKER_02We have a uh a website that's Texasschools.gov, uh uh txschools.gov. You can type in your address and it'll give you a map, five miles around your house, ten miles around your house, and tell you what all the schools are that and what their ratings are. Uh you can type in a specific school and you can see uh its overall performance. And if you want to nerd out, you can see uh what's the level of growth and what's the what's the level of achievement? What's the trend been over the last few years? What's the average pay of teachers at my school? What's the average seniority of teachers at my school? All that stuff that's on the website, Texasschools.gov.
SPEAKER_00So we all need to be more involved, know what what is happening at your kids' school and get involved. Check out, remember, an A is not mean that they're making a 90 to 100%. It means they're 60% and higher of the kids are actually at grade level and achieving. So just because it's an A doesn't mean that there can't be improvement. So it's up to all of us. Thank you so much for joining us today. And I really appreciate it. I hope you'll come back.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_00And every few months, there's so much going on and there's so much more to be done. So thank you for what you're doing. I really appreciate all the viewers today. Please come back and find out next time what we're doing. to try to transform the K-12 education system. We'll see you then.
