Remove obstacles and reduce individual costs associated with degreed individuals pursuing teacher certification. Establish a Business to Teaching initiative that would encourage and facilitate the movement of early business retirees into Texas classrooms. Establish an initiative to improve elementary and middle school math instruction similar to the Governor s Reading Initiative. Establish an initiative to improve middle and high school teacher content knowledge and instruction, particularly in math and science. Student Achievement Require TEA to report on school performance at the checkpoints of the Student Success Initiative.
Technology Establish a program to improve school district information technology systems.
This is necessary to improve school operations, provide educators information to improve performance, and improve the quality of data. Each one of them is significant. Together they represent an ambitious ramping up of the expectations Texas has set for its public schools. It is necessary to provide educators a period of relative stability during which they can make changes in educational programs to achieve the desired results. It is especially important to make no significant changes in the accountability system over the next few years.