Texas Education Review

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2152/44503

https://review.education.utexas.edu/

The Texas Education Review is an independent, peer reviewed, student-run scholarly publication based at the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin.

From Sweatt v. Painter and No Child Left Behind, to charter schools, curriculum policy, and textbook adoption, the State of Texas has played and will continue to play a critical role in shaping education policy in the United States.

The Texas Education Review (TxEd) is located directly on The University of Texas’s campus in the heart of downtown Austin. Its close proximity to the Texas Capitol, Texas Education Agency, and State Board of Education offers unparalleled access to the thought leaders, policy makers, and academics who are driving education policy in Texas. TxEd focuses on analysis of education policy and related issues, with non-exclusive preference given to issues affecting the State of Texas.

TxEd was founded and is operated by PhD students at The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education, which consistently ranks as one of the best public university graduate education programs in the U.S.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 202

The 86th Legislative Session Look-Back
(Texas Education Review, 2020) Sikes, Chloe Latham
State legislatures govern many of the daily concerns in education, yet the politics at play in shaping legislators’ approaches to pressing education issues remain underexamined. This paper provides an overview of the education policy issues that defined the 86th Texas Legislative Session. The contributing authors to this critical issue draw on their political and professional expertise to offer their unique perspectives on Texas K-12 and higher education funding, new modes of teachers’ political advocacy, and persistent racial inequities in educational institutions. Together, these pieces provide readers with a review of the achievements and challenges in Texas education policy, as well as future directions for research, policy, and educational advocacy.
A Critical Patriotism for Urban Schooling: A Call for a Pedagogy Against Fear and Denial and For Democracy
(2013) McLaren, Peter
A Difference-in-Difference Examination of Tennessee Promise's Influence on Community College Enrollment by Student Adjusted Gross Income
(Texas Education Review, 2024) Hyder, Zachary; Collom, Gresham; Biddix, Patrick
We utilize a difference-in-difference design to examine the effect of adopting a statewide promise program on the enrollment of community college students across socio-economic status. Limited by a small sample size for treated units, we find inferential evidence that the adoption of a state-wide, last-dollar promise program for community colleges with no merit-based or need-based criteria raised the enrollment of in-state first-time-in-college, full-time students in their first year of college from families that earned between $0 and $75,000 in adjusted gross income. Effect sizes were largest for students from the lowest SES group ($0 to $30,000) approximately 168 additional students enrolled per 2-year institution per year following Tennessee Promise program adoption. Findings controlled for year-to-year variations in unemployment and state price parities. We discuss benefits and concerns regarding scholarships such as the Tennessee Promise that increase enrollment for lower-income students but do not affect the amount of financial aid included in their award packages in practice.
A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in Education The Long Road to Redemption: Critical Pedagogy and the Struggle for the Future
(2015) McLaren, Peter
Access to Dual Enrollment in the United States: Implications for Equity and Stratification
(Texas Education Review, 2019) Rivera, Luis E.; Kotok, Stephen; Ashby, Nathan
Dual enrollment (DE) programs are on the rise nationally. This study uses recently available nationally representative data to examine which student and school characteristics predict participation in DE in the United States. We connect DE participation to human capital theory and related educational policy values of equity, excellence, and efficiency. Using logistic regressions, we find that, on average, 9thgrade GPA and attendance as well as higher socioeconomic status increased the odds that a student participates in DE. Our analysis also detects geographic disparities with students in rural areas and the South being more likely to take DE. We discuss implications for educational and economic policy.
The Active Schools Movement: Helping to Create Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs in All K-12 Schools
(Texas Education Review, 2018-09) Burgeson, Charlene
Physical activity has many health, social, and academic benefits for youth (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2008). It can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, maintain a healthy weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions such as obesity, Type II diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Additionally, students who are physically active tend to have better school attendance, classroom behaviors, cognitive performance, and grades (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2018).
Addressing Academic Underpreparedness in Service of College Completion
(Texas Education Review, 2018-04-27) Edgecombe, Nikki; Bickerstaff, Susan
Addressing the Teacher-Quality Gap before Making the Hiring Decision
(2013) Parsons III, Ebbie
Administrative Burden in the Classroom: An Embedded Mixed Methods Study of How External Pressure Impacts the Burden of Student Success at the Community College Level
(Texas Education Review, 2022) Lovell, Darrell
This study examines how administrative burden is evolving in college classrooms to meet external pressures focused on student success. Through a mixed methods analysis of data from a 2018 survey, this work tests how faculty and administrators view ownership of the responsibility to meet these mandates and whether it is affecting classroom approaches. The survey asked community college administrators and faculty in Texas about their views of the student’s role in student success and how external pressure affects classroom dynamics. Results suggest a shift of burden for student success from the student (citizen) to faculty (bureaucrat) resulting in part from external pressure. This could cause negative consequences with the potential for negative ramifications that create conflictual relationships in the classroom and institution. These views create a higher education administrative landscape where the bureaucrat (faculty) sees the citizen (students) in a negative light, causing resentment and overall negative administrative behavior.
Advancing an (Im)Possible Alternative: Ethnic Studies in Neoliberal Times
(Texas Education Review, 2019) Armonda, Alex J.
This conceptual paper examines the question of the political imaginary in the neoliberal moment, and the crucial role that Ethnic Studies can play in realizing critical pedagogy’s promise of emancipatory social transformation. After Arizona House Bill 2281, educational scholarship has paid renewed attention to Ethnic Studies classrooms as key sites of politically transformative praxis. Attending to recent literature that contextualizes Ethnic Studies within broader contemporary struggles against neoliberal educational reform, this analysis traces the contentious relationship between Ethnic Studies and the advancements of neoliberal multicultural ideology.This essay extends these critical dialogues by arguing for a dialectical description of the Ethnic Studies, which emphasizes its ability to stage productive confrontations between traditions in Marxist philosophy, decolonial theory, and critical race theory. The epistemological and ontological tensions that arise here, I argue, are central to reframing our understanding of consciousness raising and the formation of radical subjectivities in the present.
Affirmative Action in Brazilian Higher Education: Actors, Events, and Networks, 1992 – 2008
(Texas Education Review, 2024) Somers, Patricia A.
This unfinished manuscript (written February 2008) originated as a working paper published here to illustrate Pat's organizational approach, writing process, and commitment to engaged scholarship. The article contains several incomplete sections, but the editors added notes to provide some explanations and a complete set of references. The paper focuses on African Brazilians' struggle for race equity, leading to legislation and regulations institutionalizing affirmative action practices in Brazilian higher education. Rather than complete the paper, the editors believe that presenting her work in this form, on a subject she sincerely cared about, serves as a meaningful tribute to her legacy.
Afterword to the Special Issue: Reflections on the World History of the Politics of Liberation
(Texas Education Review, 2023) De Lissovoy, Noah
This remarkable special issue, which presents the collective work of the Asociación de Filosofía y Liberación and a selection of its investigations of the work of the great philosopher Enrique Dussel, is an indispensable intervention across a range of philosophical fields. In particular, the articles collected here, made available by the crucial editorship and careful translations of educational scholar Adam Martinez in coordination with AFyL, challenge the narrow disciplinarity and profound Eurocentrism of academic political theory. They bring the news of a collective rethinking of global history and knowledge that concerns us all, as intellectuals and educators, and presented here in the Texas Education Review they implicitly challenge (and invite) U.S.-based scholars to a scholarly conversation beyond the sanctioned bounds of what de Sousa Santos calls the West’s abyssal thinking.
An Overview of Black Achievement: Current Trends at all Levels of the Education Trajectory
(2014) Smith, Leann V.; Jackson, Stacey
This brief review of literature seeks to provide an overview of the achievement of Black students at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels of education. Trends in achievement outcomes, psychological factors related to achievement, and contextual contributions to the achievement gap are discussed. Implications for future research are provided throughout.
An Overview of Campus Climate: Dimensions of Diversity in Higher Education
(2014) Miller, Ryan A.
Higher education scholars have increasingly studied campus climate, a term used to denote the experiences of diverse students, faculty, and staff. This article inventories the literature on the topic, including definitions of campus climate, approaches to assessing climate, and future directions for climate inquiry.
An Overview of Game Based Learning: Motivations and Authentic Learning Experience
(2014) Liu, Sa; Kang, Jina
In this Gaming and Education backgrounder, we briefly overview game features for educational purposes, including interactive, fantasy, role-playing, uncertainty, etc. We will also discuss the benefits of game based learning. In particular, we will look into how games can promote learning motivation and authentic learning experience.
An Overview of Immigration Issues in Education: A Brief History and Contemporary Issues
(2015) Castro, Andrene; Malinowska, Aleksandra; Serrata, Luz Del Carmen
Immigration to the United States has long existed as a part of an American tradition. While debates centering on immigration issues are often politically driven, we hope to highlight and examine immigration from an educational context. In this paper, we first provide a brief synopsis of policy measures affecting different immigrant groups. Then, we discuss major challenges of the immigrant experience from a perspective of departure and arrival. Finally, this overview offers a broad context for national and local responses to immigrant students and communities.
An Overview of Modern Accountability: The Standards Movement, High-Stakes, and the Reauthorization of the ESEA
(2015) Germain, Emily K.; Barnes, Michael C.
Since the release of A Nation at Risk, in 1983, a report decrying the state of public education in America, this nation has increasingly focused on raising standards and accountability for our schools. This article tracks the history of modern accountability, its impacts on education, and contemplates the way forward.
An Overview of School Finance Policy: Key Federal and Texas Litigation
(2014) Lemke, Melinda A.; Jackson, Katie; Lehr, Meghan D.
Since Brown (1954), educational finance inequity has taken center stage on national and state level reform platforms. We begin with an overview of the three waves of federal school finance litigation and argumentation concerning equity, adequacy, accountability, and transparency in public schooling. We then outline key school finance legislative and judicial history within the Texas context. We conclude our review with a discussion of policy implications for public education in Texas and beyond.
An Overview of the Issues in Evaluating Special Educators: Current Challenges and Recent Developments
(2016) Watts, Gavin W.
Teachers have always been evaluated in some way; yet, current roles in the classroom have shifted to more scientific and data based approaches to teacher evaluation. These specialized approaches to teaching and evaluation have raised questions about using a single or uniform tool to assess educators. Special educators are particularly impacted by teacher evaluations since their roles require unique instructional and behavioral management skills. In addition to the range of technical and socio-emotional competencies, special educators are responsible for ensuring that all of their students' learning and academic needs are met. In this backgrounder, the author first provides a brief history of special education teacher evaluation processes, then considers the complexities of special educators' roles and responsibilities, and finally, interrogates special education educator evaluation within a new policy context.
An Overview of Transfer Conditions: Exploring Latino Community College Students in Texas
(2015) Viramontes, Jose Del Real; Segovia, Jorge; Gutierrez, Mike; Lopez, Juan
This paper begins exploring the transfer conditions for Latino community college students in Texas. We provide an overview of the high school schooling conditions for Latinos; the experiences of Latinos in the community college; and some models that can increase the transfer and graduation rates for Latina/o community college students.

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