 "Photo: Erik Reyna/The Daily Texan")
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott spoke to a crowd of 130 about state educational policies and initiatives at the annual Austin Chamber of Commerce roundtable Tuesday afternoon. His talk included topics of e-learning, accountability and college readiness.
Scott, a graduate of UT’s law school, has served as commissioner since being appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2007. The commissioner, along with the State Board of Education, is responsible for overseeing all of the state’s 1,200 school districts and charter schools.
Scott endorsed the development of e-learning and said it helps both students who drop out come back to school, and rural students, who do not have access to many of the resources students in urban and suburban areas do, and thus fall behind at the college level.
According to a 2008 study conducted by the UT Office of Admissions, students from rural, independent or stable non-metropolitan schools made up only 9 percent of the University’s freshman class in 2007, but made up 26 percent of the state’s school population.
Scott focused much of his talk on teacher accountability, and said it was important not to let a school’s average test scores cover up the scores of underperforming students for the sake of boosting the school’s image.
“Teachers care about kids,” he said. “Individuals in this room care about kids. [Accountability] is designed to make the system care about kids too. We have an accountability system to get data ... so that we can use that data to make better decisions.”
He also said it isn’t necessary to overhaul the recently updated state curriculum, but simply to add any components that may be federally mandated. He said many of the proponents of a national education curriculum are businesses, such as textbook companies, who are looking to make a greater profit through one large federal government, as opposed to 50 different state governments.
“I worry that the economy of scale — that [the businesses] are trying to get — gives up the ability of innovation and nimbleness at the state and local districts,” he said.
Drew Scheberle, the chamber’s senior vice president of education and workforce development, said it was important for the community to know where the commissioner was leading education, especially in regard to technology.
“Basically, we want to know if we’re keeping up, if we’re ahead of the curve or if we’re falling behind,” Scheberle said.
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