The job of public education in Texas is maximizing the human potential of 5.5 million children. To succeed, we must first make school safe for students, staff, teachers and families. Second, we must ensure learning happens. This assessment was delivered by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath during a webinar sponsored by Texas 2036, a non-profit focused on continuing economic development success in Texas.
Covid-19 has the potential to create a generational education crisis. Low-income students’ progress during distance learning at the end of the last school year was 30% below expectations. High-income students performed well above the expected level. Middle-income students also performed above expectations, but just slightly. This data was on charts presented by Commissioner Morath.
Commissioner Morath said we would not know this without testing. There are calls to eliminate testing during this crisis. While he understands the motivation not to be tested under such adverse conditions, it is not okay to let our kids not learn. Pushing to eliminating testing he said, “was bizarre.” He added, “teaching without testing is just talking. America is a meritocracy. We owe it to our children to prepare them to succeed.”
We have known for a long time that low-income families and rural communities are at a disadvantage because they lack access to broadband at home, and many do not have devices to take advantage of technology. Commissioner Morath said the TEA has spent $1 billion on technology to close the gap, including purchasing 2 million learning devices for distribution to students. Texas is working diligently to close the broadband gap for the short term. The state needs to more effectively address this issue in the mid and long terms he added.
The education community was caught off guard in March. Texas schools are much better prepared to achieve our goals as we enter this school year. To be fully funded, school districts will have to accommodate both distance learning and in-class learning for parents who request it. We will continue to improve, to test and to close the learning gap.