Education

Sandy Lyons heard about Da’Keondrick Whitley a long time before he set foot in her second-grade classroom at Presidential Meadows Elementary School in Manor, Texas, northeast of Austin.

Across the state, about 10 percent of teachers don’t return to their jobs each year, according to the Texas Education Agency. School districts and others are trying to change that. That includes Dallas Teacher Residency, a year-long teaching program that could make the difference between a new teacher staying or quitting.

Perhaps the hardest part of being a high school teacher is seeing students drop out or fail to graduate. But sometimes, students and teachers get a second chance.

An estimated 4,000 students in the Dallas Independent School District are considered homeless. On Tuesday, Dallas ISD and several non-profit groups marked the opening of the first phase of a homeless youth center. 

Updated, 11:53 a.m. 

Former Dallas County Schools Board President Larry Duncan, 72, has pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion.

According to court filings Monday, Duncan pleaded guilty to the federal charge in connection with the bribery scandal that brought down the troubled school bus agency last year.

It’s time to restore the billons that were cut from the state’s education budget more than half a decade ago because the state depends on it, Tom Luce said Thursday at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Luce, the former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, targeted his message to his audience: North Texas business leaders.

The latest version of the Tuition Tracker was released Thursday to help students figure out the true cost of any college in Texas and across the country. 

Despite longstanding awareness of the problem, bullying persists — in schools, online and well into adulthood.

That’s why dozens of students and teachers from 15 public and private schools in Texas and Oklahoma gathered last week for the No Place for Hate Youth Summit. 

Voters in the Dallas, Frisco and Richardson school districts will decide on tax ratification elections, or TREs, this November. These tax measures, which have becoming increasingly popular ballot items in the last decade, are meant to generate millions for school districts.

Tuesday’s the last day to register to vote in Texas, and a record’s already been set: More than 15.5 million Texans are eligible to vote, with registration continuing to climb. But being able to vote and actually pulling the lever are not the same thing. 

When it comes to traditional public schools and charter schools, many take sides — but Todd Williams says both models have strengths.

He's president and CEO of The Commit Partnership, a Dallas-based nonprofit working to boost student outcomes in North Texas. He also helped establish Uplift Williams Preparatory, a Dallas charter school.

It's hard to talk to kids about sex.

But the U.S. consistently has among the highest teen pregnancy and STD infection rates in the developed world.

Bonnie J. Rough has had "The Talk" with her kids — and she knows how hard it is, and how important. She's the author of "Beyond Birds and Bees." 

She recently talked with KERA's Krys Boyd on Think about the need for comprehensive sex education, even when it's uncomfortable.

The Dallas school district is home to high schools with the lowest graduation rates in Dallas County, according to a report by the education nonprofit Children At Risk.

Many West Dallas middle schoolers and teachers headed to a new campus this school year — a high school. Edison Middle Learning Center closed over the summer and those students now attend classes in a redesigned wing of nearby Pinkston High School.

Fort Worth has set an ambitious goal: to have every third grader reading on grade level by 2025. That's the key milestone for a public-private effort called Read Fort Worth, which just hired a new executive director, Anel Mercado.