Word: houstonic
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...Despite Paige's advocacy of controversial conservative education policies--like the use of tax money for vouchers to send students to private schools--lawmakers in both parties are welcoming him. Senator Barbara Mikulski, a liberal Maryland Democrat, described herself as "really impressed" by Paige's legacy in Houston; Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, called Paige's leadership "visionary...
...Paige, 67, is widely credited with turning around the Houston schools through an emphasis on accountability and efficiency and a receptiveness to new ideas. But he got off to a bumpy start. When the school board chose him as superintendent in 1994, during a closed-door session, the reaction of Hispanic activists and parents, whose children constitute a majority of the schools' students, was an angry sense of feeling excluded. They sued the board...
...During Paige's tenure, the number of Houston students passing state achievement tests rose from 44% to 64%. Paige placed principals on performance contracts contingent on student achievement and saved the district money by contracting out lunchroom and maintenance services. With the help of Houston business executives, whose conservative politics had historically been at odds with the district leadership, Paige won voter approval for a $678 million bond issue in 1998--the largest of its kind in Texas--to repair 69 schools and build 10 new ones...
...Paige is not without his critics. Some say the Houston district's gains on statewide tests have been boosted by an abysmal dropout rate, as underperforming students, under constant pressure, simply give up. A report published last month by Johns Hopkins University ranked Houston 28th in school completion out of the nation's 35 largest school systems, with less than half of ninth-graders at most of the district's high schools sticking it out through graduation. Says Guadelupe San Miguel, a parent with three children in the district and an expert on Hispanic education: "The high-stakes testing Paige...
...Paige concedes that the dropout rate in Houston is "undesirable" but doesn't blame it on testing. "Most of it had nothing to do with the school-based factors," he says. "We were improving those rapidly." Paige instead faults societal factors such as teen pregnancy and the lure of employment, even for dropouts, in a strong local economy...