Abbott-O-Meter

Tracking the promises of Greg Abbott

"Many states have implemented an A through F rating system for individual campuses with great success." Each campus website should show the school's A through F rating and other indicators of success.

Parents currently cannot seek state intervention until schools have performed inadequately for five years. This should change to two years.

Schools eligible to be placed in "achievement districts" would consist of the bottom 15 elementary or charter school campuses with an F rating from the state for two straight years.

More Teach for America positions should be supported by the state. Increase funding by $3 million from the existing $12 million every two years

"And as governor, I will drive a stake through the heart of CSCOPE and will never allow common core in Texas." CSCOPE, developed by state-funded Education Service Centers, offered school districts curriculum tools, including classroom lesson plans, aligned with revised state academic standards. Critics said the material included inappropriate directives.

“Expanding the population of students served by existing state-funded programs without addressing the quality of existing prekindergarten instruction or how it is being delivered would be an act of negligence and waste.”

Districts would choose methods of assessing prekindergarten students at the start and finish of each school year from a list of approaches developed by the state.

"With a $2 million appropriation, teams of expert teacher mentors could be deployed to poor-performing schools to coach educators by teaching alongside them in the classroom."

Provide $15 million a year to help teachers master tenets of careful, consistent and systematic reading instruction.

Launching literacy achievement academies would renew, and build on, a program initiated in the 1990s at the urging of then-Gov. George W. Bush.

"The" math achievement "academies would consist of four to five days of collaborative, research-based professional development training for math teachers across the state."

"To improve campus leadership, the state should offer financial support that enables public school principals and others in leadership positions to receive optional advanced leadership training."

Requiring schools to declare each school's enrollment compared to its capacity will better inform parents and taxpayers.

Appropriate $100 million every two years for technology grants to schools rated D or F by state.

Public school students should be allowed to take any Virtual School Network course even if it's offered in person at their school. Also, the state cap of three VSN courses per student should be repealed.

Free-of-charge tutoring for students preparing for mandated end-of-course exams would cost $7.6 million statewide.

The annual cost of awarding 10 innovation grants ro encourage blended instruction would be $8 million.

Districts that avail themselves of specialists in innovative digital instruction will be eligible for state aid to cover training costs

"In addition to incentivizing higher graduation rates, the criteria for performance-based funding should also include metrics to ensure quality of instruction; for instance, universities may receive funding based on the percentage of graduates who are employed within six months of graduating."

"After students choose a program or major, they will choose a morning or evening schedule instead of picking individual courses."