Educational Reform: Looking for a solution

By Vladimir Ramirez

To counteract the sad reality of the present educational system in Texas, the one that maintains low academic excellence in comparison to other states and graduates only 32% of its students, representatives of Texans for Educational Reform (TER) arrived recently in San Antonio to promote nine legislative proposals which can be the "salvation" of Texas education. 

"(There are) nine bills, the primary one of which implements proven educational technologies and teaching innovations in addition to making high-performing schools available to all Texas families," said Arnoldo Torres, promoter and  political consultant for TER.  "We want to invest in the best teachers and teaching policies to improve student learning."  These proposals will meaningfully transform K-12 educational outcomes for the 5.1 million school children in Texas.  According to the promoters, this reformation will enable broader use of on-line technology and allow students to receive credits more quickly upon passing college readiness exams, so they can proceed at their own pace.

As an immediate response, Arnoldo advocated charter schools.  “Charter schools don’t work as traditional schools do (…) they have proven to be effective in teaching, so the aim is to create more charter schools to improve academic outcomes.”