Dallas Morning News – Terrence Stutz
“AUSTIN – An education law that was designed to cause more eighth-graders who can’t pass the TAKS test to be held back is actually having little impact on the percentage of students who are flunking. Although the retention rate for eighth-graders jumped the first year they were required to pass the TAKS to be promoted to high school, the rate has now dropped back to what it was before the tough new standard was implemented to help stamp out social promotion in middle schools, new data from the Texas Education Agency shows.”(more)