The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Texas Education Agency" ...
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Public Service Journalism Via Apps and Interactives
The Texas Tribune uses government records lawmakers, agency chiefs, educators and influential state figures would rather not be public. Projects include a campaign finance database offers a comprehensive, searchable tool to see who's bankrolling their representatives. The public schools database provides extensive access to comparative data on all of Texas' school districts.
Tags: data; government; statistics
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Faking the Grade
This investigation, a follow up of a 2004 investigation of the same subject, found that test scores of more than 50,000 students across Texas show evidence of cheating. Cheating includes copying by students, as tests that are doctored by teachers and school administrators. Cheating is most common at underachieving schools, where the pressure to boost scores is the highest.
Tags: Philip Meyer Award; education; students; schools; cheating; tests; standardized tests; No Child Left Behind; regression analysis; Texas Education Agency; CAR; public records laws
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School Scandals, Children Left Behind: Cheating in Texas Schools
This series of articles began with an examination of one school district in Dallas. The reporters found that the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District was riddled with problems, including shredded documents, vanishing funds, unpaid salaries, and stolen property. The Wilmer- Hutchins stories also exposed some discrepancies in state assessment test scores. The reporters did a statewide data analysis of test scores and found that similar discrepancies, and the cheating that produces them, occurred throughout the state.
Tags: cheating; Wilmer-Hutchins; Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills; Thaddeus Lott; Texas Education Agency; standardized tests; No Child Left Behind
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2002 IRE National Conference Show and Tell Tape #2
2002 IRE National Conference (San Francisco) Show and Tell Tape #2 features the following stories 1) Tim Minton (WNBC-New York City) Security at local hospitals are lacking. 2) Brian Collister (KMOL-San Antonio) An inordinate number of court case have been thrown out of the local county court because judges ruled the defendants lacked a speedy trial. 3) Clips from a PBS project concerning scientists' genetic experiments. 4) Kevin Quinn (KFSN-Fresno) Area residents are suspicious of a local Muslim village called Baladullah, where the sounds gunfire has been heard emanating from the grounds. 5) Dan Noyes (KGO-San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) Guardrails in California are often installed incorrectly, turning the protective barriers into potential dangers. 6) Craig Fiegener (ABC 30 Action News) Fifteen travelers are swindled by a travel agency, which sold them unconfirmed tickets for a cruise. 7) Joel Grover (CBS 2-Los Angeles) An undercover investigation reveals that valet parking attendants at LA's hottest night clubs steal from their customers. 8) Paul Gallagher (60 Minutes) An investigation of the U.S. Marine Corps' MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft reveals serious mechanical problems that contributed to two crashes in 2000, which killed 23 Marines. 60 Minutes also reports that "senior officers in the Osprey squadron had deliberately falsified maintenance records and lied about the aircraft's readiness -- in an apparent effort by the Marine Corps to win Pentagon approval for full production of the aircraft, at a projected cost to U.S. taxpayers of $41 billion." 9) Tom Martino (KDVR-Denver) An undercover investigation reveals that many beauty salons use a dangerous chemical to make fake nails. 10) (WGHP-Greensboro) An investigation reveals that construction works who built the homes in a subdivision failed to install the chimneys correctly, making them dangerous for those who live there. 11) Darcy Spears (KVBC-Las Vegas) A hearing aid center uses bait and switch tactics to take advantage of the elderly. 12) Jim Kenyon (WSTM-Syracuse, New York) Criminals in Canada involved in advance fee loan scams trick Americans out of thousands of dollars. 13) Bob Segall (WITI-Milwaukee) An undercover investigation reveals that security guards at a local county courthouse don't do a good job of stopping banned items from entering the building. 14) Karen Hensel (WISH-Indianapolis) Marian County inspectors don't always review homes under construction. 15) (WBTV-Charlotte, N.C.) Members of the Iredell-Statesville School Board use district funds to attend an education conference -- but then skip the convention and go on a vacation to Disney World, all on the taxpayer's dime. 16) Valeri Williams (WFAA-Dallas/Fort Worth) WFAA-TV follows up its 2000 IRE Awards entry with this return investigation into Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital. Reporter Williams and producer Schucker continued their investigation, focusing on Dr. Lydia Grotti and her connection to suspicious and overlooked deaths in the emergency room. As a result of WFAA-TV's investigation the Texas Department of Health began conducting its own investigation and discovered additional deaths that took place in the ER. The county district attorney's office called in a special prosecutor to examine a total of eight suspicious deaths in connection with Dr. Grotti at the hospital. On Tape #2 is a short clip of Williams' work. Tape #3 features the entire series of stories she played at Show and Tell.
Tags: TAPE; San Francisco; conference; no transcripts; IRE
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Doctors in Debt
Dallas Business Journal examines the federal government's "troubled efforts to collect on $168.8 million in student loans remaining from the defunct Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) program. About 1,700 chiropractors, dentists and other former medical students have found their starting salaries too low to repay their student debts, the story reveals. The Journal's analysis of the government data about the debtors shows "discrepancies in payment records, departures from agency rules and confusion among those running the system." The defaulted doctors' debts could cost some of them their licenses, Patrick reports.
Tags: doctors; licensing boards; bankruptcy; college financial aid; U.S. Department of Health and Human Service; Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL); Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners; Texas State Board of Dental Examiners
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Undereducated & Uncounted
A San-Antonio Express News four-part investigation questions the accuracy of the high-school dropout rates in Texas. The report finds that the dropout rate at Holmes High-School in San Antonio is "more than 70 percent higher than the most-recent figure reported by the state." One of the stories follows the development of the children who left school and reveals that "they hung out with the "wrong crowd." Another story in the package looks at the rate of the teens who drop out to start a family, and details the difficulties that teenage mothers often face in bringing up their children. The investigation also examines the measures that are being taken to lower the dropout rate, and concludes that "...some students who recover learn to simply "snap out" of their problems and get their diplomas."
Tags: schools; students; teachers; parents; graduation; diplomas; ethnicity; low income; poverty; General Education Development certificate; National Center for Education Statistics; Texas Education Agency; demographics; Hispanic; algebra; maturity factor
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Tardy Oversight
A Star-Telegram investigation examines how "child molesters, rapists, drug users and thieves have remained certified as Texas teachers - sometimes for years - because of a backlog at the state agency [the State Board for Educator Certification] that oversees educator credentials." The reporters' analysis of more than 9,000 cases at the state board finds that " the delays have opened the door for predators to have easy access to children by allowing them to quietly change schools or to obtain credentials in other states." Some of the major findings are that "more than 900 cases were pending against Texas educators, ... some ... dated to 1988," and that "nearly 30 registered sex offenders still hold their credentials." The investigation reveals that "almost 40 percent of those accused were ultimately cleared by the state." It also provides a step-by-step tutorial for parents to check the status of their children's teachers.
Tags: schools; students; courts; pedophiles; sexual assault; Dallas; background checks