(Ericka Mellon/Houston Chronicle)
Momentum built Tuesday for Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott to delay for a year a controversial mandate that students’ scores on new, tougher state exams count toward their course grades.
Scott had said he was unclear if he had the legal power to postpone the grade requirement, but key lawmakers this week said he has the authority – and they want him to use it. School superintendents and parents have complained in recent months that counting the test scores as 15 percent of students’ course grades would negatively affect their grade-point averages and their chances of getting into top colleges.
The intent of the law was to ensure that students took the exams seriously. Not only would they have to pass the tests to graduate, but for the first time in Texas their grades would be affected. (Read more at the Houston Chronicle)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- In Texas, Ambivalence Over Wind Tax Credit Extension (Texas Tribune)
- Harris County Refuses To Pay City Of Houston Drainage Tax (KUHF Public Radio)
- More AP Courses In HISD Helps Lead Students Toward College (KUHF Public Radio)
- Galveston: Man Guilty of Ike Housing Fraud (KHOU-11 News)
- Keystone’s Thousands of Jobs Fall to 20 When Pipeline Opens (Bloomberg)
OPINIONS OF NOTE:
- Editorial: Fight Back Against Summer Heat (Houston Chronicle)
- Editorial: Obama’s Pitch on Energy (New York Times)