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Everything is bigger in Texas, including the . No state has experienced more growth in the number of K-12 students over the last decade than Texas. Although the majority of the growth is among the Hispanic student population, all ethnic groups except Caucasians experienced both numerical and percentage increases in enrollment during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years. These increases in minority enrollment and decreases in white enrollment continue a trend that dates back to the 1980s.

Enrollment Reflects Increasing Diversity

According to the Texas Education Agency, over the last decade, the state’s public school system has added over 820,000 students, which reflects a 19 percent increase in total enrollment. When viewed longitudinally, enrollment growth in Texas is even more pronounced: Since the 1987-1988 school year, enrollment has increased by a whopping 1.85 million students, representing a growth of over 57 percent.

In the 2012-2013 academic year, Texas public school students were:

• 51.3 percent Hispanic;
• 30 percent white;
• 12.7 percent African-American;
• 3.6 percent Asian, and
• 1.8 percent multi-racial.

These numbers are representative of the increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of students enrolling in Texas public schools. The Hispanic student population surpassed the 50 percent mark in 2011 and is the fastest-growing segment of Texas’ student population. Conversely, white enrollment, which has been decreasing for years, is projected to continue declining for the next several decades. In 2000, over 41 percent of Texas students were white, but that number now stands at just over 31 percent. By 2050, experts

As more parents voice concerns about the dangers of cyberbullying, one California school district has taken matters into its own hands. The Glendale Unified School District has hired an outside company to track students on social media and send reports of the results to school officials daily. The purpose of the new program is to protect students from potential trouble, including cyberbullying, suicidal thoughts, and even truancy. However, some are questioning whether the school district is blatantly infringing on students’ privacy rights in their quest to keep students a little safer.

Company to Analyze Social Media Posts

The reports that the Glendale district has hired Geo Listening, a social media monitoring service that specializes in tracking social media for school campuses. Glendale piloted the program on a smaller scale last year, hiring the company to monitor the social websites of students at Hoover, Glendale, and Crescenta Valley high schools. This year, the district will pay Geo Listening more than $40,000 to expand their services to eight high and middle schools.

According to the , their monitoring service reports daily to school officials about social website activity. Those daily reports break down social media messages into the following categories:

• Cyber-bullying and bullying
• Hate, harm, and despair
• Crimes and vandalism
• Truancy
• Substance abuse

The report also shares the frequency and severity of student posts within these categories. All of the information is taken off of public social media pages; texts, emails,

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently recognized Denver ���������� Schools for their work on an innovative teacher evaluation system. The new system, known as LEAP, received a new $10 million grant from the foundation, which recognized three years of advancements by the school district. Denver ���������� Schools plans to use the money to continue improving and refining its evaluation model, which has become an example for other school districts nationwide.

Progress Rewarded

According to a press release on the DPS website, the grant was given based on the district's successful progress of the teacher evaluation initiatives. The grant is actually a renewal of an earlier $10 million grant provided by the foundation, which was used to launch the evaluation system in 2011. The system expanded to include all schools in the district by the 2012-2013 school year. The new funding will allow the program to reach full implementation throughout the school district.

“We are very appreciative of this additional investment in the important, collaborative work we’ve been doing to support our teachers and to help our students achieve,” Tom Boasberg, superintendent of Denver ���������� Schools, stated in the press release. “We have worked closely with our teachers and our school leaders to build a system that develops and recognizes high-quality teachers, and positively impacts our schools and students.”

This video reports on the LEAP grant.

About LEAP

LEAP stands for Leading Effective