New School

After 2 years in D'ville, I accepted a new position south of Austin at a formerly rural school. Just like D'ville they are reeling from the effects of immigration and migration.
In the last 5 years my new district has grown from a small backwater to suburbia. Following the Law of Unintended Consequences, much has changed, and not all for the better. Many of the students new to the district are from homes where English is not the first language, or where education is not valued. The district is still in the process of figuring out how to help these students. For the past 3 years the district's test scores have fallen, mostly due to the low socio-economic group scores. Because all students are our future, we must make sure that all receive the knowledge and skills they need to be productive, satisfied, citizens.
However, I'm not sure the district has addressed the issues in the most cost-effective manner; but they are trying. I would feel a lot more comfortable if they asked teachers to be part of the problem-solving process, rather than the having all the answers come from the top down. Apparently, in the past, teachers were expected to address the problem, but in a piecemeal, hit-or-miss sort of way. Curriculum planning was given short shrift, and no support or training.
Now the district is in dire straits, with falling test scores and TEA breathing down their neck. They have purchased, at exorbitant cost, a "pre-planned" curriculum, which turns teachers into robots. I know that some high school teachers, especially new ones, have a hard time deciding what to do, and end up trying to 'teach the book.' This is a mistake, because the text always contains much more information than the student needs, and more than is tested at the Exit level. The problem teachers have is that no one bothers to tell them what's important (ie, tested) and whats extraneous. All the extraneous material will be covered, just not necessarily at the depth and complexity of the tested material, which is usually the most important information for the course.
Of course, all of this will change in the next few years as we go to EOC (end of course) exams. My first trainer, Brad Gibson from Region 18, always said "follow the money" and he was right. All the TAKS training material, study guides, and disaggregation of data workshops are out there, and there's not much new they can do (read sell districts). So they have come up with EOCs (really a throwback - they were used in the 1990s).
These won't actually be implemented for several years, but they are hovering over our heads - tests written by people who work for testing companies, at MUCH higher salaries than anybody in the classroom makes.
Anyway, I really like working here - the kids are MUCH better behaved, and I am respected by my peers for some reason - I am not sure why. Anyway, I love it, and plan on staying here for a long time.
Its good to be back.