Texas Public Policy Foundation

By Brooke Dollens Terry
Texas has a complex public school accountability system to evaluate schools and school districts. The system lacks rigor, is too complex, and does not align with the federal accountability system. To hold schools accountable, policymakers need to make significant changes to the state accountability system.

By Brooke Dollens Terry
Too many high school graduates are not academically prepared for the rigors of college-level work. The need for remedial education in college has a negative cost to students, higher education institutions, taxpayers, and the economy. This paper examines the numbers and costs related to remedial education.

By Brooke Dollens Terry
If student learning is the main objective, then it defies common sense to bar a genius like Albert Einstein or business guru Jack Welch from the classroom because he doesn’t have a teaching certificate.

Do schools really need more money?
Brooke Dollens Terry Guest Columnist
Every legislative session, schools administrators come to Austin asking state lawmakers for more money. They claim that current spending is not adequate to provide students a good quality education. Yet per-pupil expenditures, adjusted for inflation, have tripled since the 1960\'s and Texas now spends more than $10,000 per pupil each year.