/https://static.texastribune.org/media/profiles/Aliyya_Swaby_TT.jpg)
Aliyya Swaby was the public education reporter for The Texas Tribune, where she worked from 2016 to 2021. Previously she worked at the hyperlocal nonprofit New Haven Independent, where she covered education, zoning and transit for two years. After graduating from Yale University in 2013, she spent a year freelance reporting in Panama on social issues affecting black Panamanian communities. She was an Education Writers Association finalist in 2017 for beat reporting and a Livingston Awards finalist in 2019 for a series on school desegregation.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Wednesday released criteria that schools affected by Hurricane Harvey will have to meet to be exempt from state ratings. School administrators have argued that all schools in the disaster area should automatically get waivers. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/01/23/_TX428_MorathTT.jpg)
Homeless for a month and a half after the hurricane, Justin Williams had to put his life back together while teaching Alief ISD sixth graders. Tiffany Robinson pushed students even harder to pass state tests after teachers lost 11 school days to Harvey. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/43d13ca0433cd9f263591d225c347bda/Lessons_Justin_Williams_2_PYH_TT.jpg)
Both chambers hope to have certain fixes in place before students return to school in August. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/08/08/Straus_and_Patrick.jpg)
A 2017 law offers school districts a temporary reprieve from state sanctions if they partner with nonprofits or charters to overhaul chronically underperforming schools. But logistical challenges and local backlash has made the law difficult to use this year. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Classroom.jpg)
These days, more students and teachers report being happy at Spring ISD's Bammel Middle School, and the number of three-day out-of-school suspensions dropped from 94 last school year to 47. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/22768323c091484f2f31580b4c8e48f8/Restorative_Practices_1_PYH.jpg)
A week after a student killed 10 people in Santa Fe High School, his classmates and teachers convened at the Capitol to discuss possible solutions for preventing future school shootings at the last of three roundtables on school safety Gov. Greg Abbott held this week. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ed08d959a6d844b0bd6be67cdbda5e35/_ThreePanel1069_Grace_Johnsonlow.JPG)
The Texas Education Agency slammed its standardized test vendor with $100,000 in damages and will re-bid the contract in June, after thousands of students were logged out of the testing system this spring. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/01/23/_TX347MorathTT.jpg)
A Texas Education Agency plan requires school districts to find and serve the large number of students who may have been left out of special education for years. School administrators say they're at a loss for how to pay for that with no requisite increase in state funding. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/9767d3272e18ada5820107633668a018/Special_ed_hearing_1_LBH_TT.jpg)
National exam results show Texas and the nation stagnating in academic achievement for elementary and middle school students. Experts have different takes on what state education officials should do to fix it. Full Story
Texas A&M University professor Lori Taylor stunned Kansas lawmakers by recommending they increase their school funding by 44 percent. But what does that mean for Texas? Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/fb0991761e1f1b4656d5fe8be520d589/Lori_Taylor_2_SK_TT.jpg)