By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
The next generation of student testing in Texas will be called the STAAR. Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced Tuesday that the much-maligned Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills will be replaced with the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR.
The new testing system, which was mandated by the Legislature, will replace the TAKS beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. It includes 12 end-of-course exams in the four core subject areas in high school. This year's seventh graders will be the first class required to meet end-of-course testing requirements to graduate.
New tests also will be developed for students in third through eighth grade.
The new accountability system is still being developed. State ratings will be suspended in 2012 and the new rating system will debut in 2013, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Perry changes enterprise fund contracts
Gov. Rick Perry's office has revealed that it changed 11 Texas Enterprise Fund contracts with companies that got taxpayer-funded grants to create jobs in Texas.
Two other companies, including mortgage giant Countrywide, ended their Texas contracts for "business reasons."
The governor's office made the announcement late Tuesday, shortly after learning that a report was about to be released by the non-profit Texans for Public Justice.
That report detailed companies' enterprise fund agreements that weren't fulfilled. The TPJ report also lists the companies that had their contracts with the state amended to reduce their job creation goals or give them more time to fulfill their promises.
The group planned to release its report Wednesday. It examines the companies' performance in 2008, as the recession took hold.
Cleanup continues of Texas oil spill
Workers in yellow jumpsuits on shore and aboard ships and boats are using high-tech gear and old-fashioned elbow grease to clean up the worst Texas oil spill in more than 15 years.
The vessels are stationed Tuesday along the Sabine-Neches Waterway next to Port Arthur. That's where 462,000 gallons of light crude oil spilled this weekend after an 800-foot tanker collided with a towboat pushing two barges.
The ships utilized a variety of equipment to collect the thousands of gallons of oil still floating on the surface. They included conveyor belts, metal drums and brushes that gather the oil, bring it back into their vessels' hulls and separate the oil from the water.
Officials aren't sure when the cleanup will be finished.