The top local stories this morning from KERA News:
As students across the state continue STAAR exams Thursday, the head of the Texas Education Agency has announced he may not count the test scores against annual ratings for schools affected by Hurricane Harvey.
Mike Morath announced that at Wednesday's meeting of the state board of education. He cited student and staff displacement, as well as school facility closures and disruptions, as reasons behind the decision.
School administrators in Harvey-affected districts for months have asked the TEA to waive school accountability ratings. They're mostly based on how students perform on state standardized tests.
A final decision on whether to implement a Harvey-related waiver won't be made until June.
Other stories this morning:
- It's not uncommon to have a student repeat a grade to help struggling learners catch up, but a new study from Texas A&M University shows retaining a student may have drastic long-term effects.
- More than 60 films covering a range of environmental issues will screen in Dallas this weekend.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:23 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.