Education, Inc:

Education, Inc:

Education, Inc. A documentary about how money and politics are changing our schools.

Education Inc. Documentary Follows the Money Corrupting Our Schools - Living in Dialogue http://bit.ly/1LlUqRJ

ANNOUNCING Education Inc.
National Grass Roots Screening!

Friday, August 14th, 2015

American public education is in controversy. As public schools across the country struggle for funding, complicated by the impact of poverty and politics, some question the future and effectiveness of public schools in the U.S.

For free-market reformers, private investors and large education corporations, this controversy spells opportunity in turning public schools over to private interests. Education, Inc. examines the free-market and for-profit interests that have been quietly and systematically privatizing America’s public education system under the banner of “school choice.”

Education, Inc. is told through the eyes of parent and filmmaker Brian Malone, as he travels cross-country in search of the answers and sources behind the privatizing of American public education, and what it means for his kids. With striking footage from school protests, raucous school board meetings and interviews with some of the most well known educators in the country, Malone zooms out to paint a clear picture of profit and politics that’s sweeping across the nation, right under our noses.

Watch The Trailer

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Education, Inc.Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 3:25pm

Drop your pin on the Ed Inc map!!

Hey everyone.. there is a cool feature we added to the Ed Inc. website. We now have a map that shows all of the places there will be screenings across the country... How cool is that!? If you're planning a screening, please visit the Screenings page and enter your info where/when your screening is and we'll drop a pin on the U.S. map. Let's fill up the map!

http://edincmovie.com/events/

And thanks again for waking up to corporate education reform!
#edincmovie
Education, Inc.

Events | Education, Inc

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Events Come and join us for an upcoming screening. Fill out the form below to submit your home screening to have it added to our map below. Copies of the dvd can be purchased here. No Events Loading Map.... {"em_ajax":true,"query":"GlobalMapData","width":"900px","height":"500px","random_id":"9c1e6"…

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Education, Inc.Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 7:33am

Dummy Charter School
https://vimeo.com/131234148
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Education Inc Dummy Charter School

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This is "Education Inc Dummy Charter School" by Fast Forward Films, LLC on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

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Education, Inc.Friday, June 19th, 2015 at 5:51am

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Education, Inc.Thursday, June 11th, 2015 at 1:33am

ANNOUNCING!
Education Inc.
National Grass Roots Screening
Friday, August 14th, 2015

Be part of the national movement to open up the conversation of outside money behind education reform.

Host your own house party. Rent out a community center. Show the movie and then have an open and honest conversation about school reform and all of the dark money behind it.

Get your DVD here!
Edincmovie.com

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Education, Inc.Education, Inc. created an event.Thursday, June 11th, 2015 at 1:32am

Education, Inc:

Education Inc. Documentary Follows the Money Corrupting Our Schools - Living in Dialogue

Education Inc. Documentary Follows the Money Corrupting Our Schools - Living in Dialogue:

Education Inc. Documentary Follows the Money Corrupting Our Schools 

By Anthony Cody.

A new documentary will be released on August 14th that could provide a powerful boost to local efforts to organize resistance to the corporate takeover of public schools. It is called Education Inc, and it tells the tale all too familiar to many of us – that of the drive to privatize one of the few public institutions left in our withering democracy.

If you are frustrated by what you see happening in your local schools, if your school board is beset by billionaire-sponsored candidates, and charter schools are starving neighborhood schools of funding, this film might give you a much needed rallying point. The film’s creator is making it available for community showings, and is building for a one-day national release on August 14. A film showings can provide a focal point that brings people together and inspires further actions. Details for booking the film are here.

But first, a bit of background on this story. I met Brian Malone a couple of years ago, when some parent activists brought me to Douglas County, Colorado, to talk about what was happening with corporate education reform. It was just a week or two prior to a major election that pitted those who supported public schools against a pro-privatization slate backed by ALEC and big money from outside of the area. There was all sorts of skullduggery in this election. The District used taxpayer funds to commission a pseudo-academic “white paper” by the head of the American Enterprise Institute, Rick Hess. His paper, and accompanying blog post, described Douglas County as “the most interesting district in America,” because it was a wealthy district experimenting with school choice. This paper was released in the middle of the campaign, and put a rosy glow on the candidates who supported this approach. It came out later that the school district paid Hess and his co-author $30,000 for their praise.

This money was just the tip of a much bigger iceberg that threatens to sink public education in communities across the country. Teacher friends who worked in film maker Brian Malone’s community began telling him that things were awry a few years ago. At first he could not believe things could be as bad as he was hearing. He explains:

I agreed to attend some school board meetings and even videotape them out of curiosity. It wasn’t long until I began to see things differently. I watched this new school board systematically dismantle every part of what made Douglas County Schools great for more than 50 years. School board meetings sounded more like corporate shareholder meetings. Student fees multiplied, while at the same time the board was holding back almost $100-million from classrooms. And for the first time ever, my kids had to pay to ride the school bus. There was a lot of talk about encouraging competition, letting 

Education Inc. Documentary Follows the Money Corrupting Our Schools - Living in Dialogue:

Sic’ ‘Em Saturday: CCSS Menu, Your Choice | commoncorediva

Sic’ ‘Em Saturday: CCSS Menu, Your Choice | commoncorediva:

CCSS Menu, Your Choice

Warriors against Common Core, make no mistake, Common Core isn’t only going to be set in stone for the next 7 years IF the HR5 re-authorized bill headed up by Sen. Alexander is passed; it will also be set in stone IF the HEA re-authorized bill headed up by Sen. Alexander is passed, as well!!

Many warnings have been given over the past months–by others who’ve researched both bills and in my articles. I’ve researched the HEA one especially.

While HR5 is set to impact K-12 students, teachers, and their schools;  HEA’s Common Core tentacles will grasp all citizens no matter what educational choice they had in the past. This means if you were homeschooled, attended a private charter, or private faith-based school for K-12: Common Core via its adult version of Career and Technical Education (or Career Pathways, Career Clusters, American Apprenticeship Initiative, Workforce Training) will be there. This means if you just graduated from a public charter school, a public school of any kind, your introduction to Career and Technical Education (or the other names above) has already begun! This means that if  you’re hold a job which requires you to further your education via post-secondary education, Common Core will ensnare you, too! This means if you’re going back to school to begin a new chapter of life,Common Core is your ‘welcome back’ to class!

Both bills, HR5 and HEA contain data mining, high stakes assessments which encompass not only students, but the teachers, professors, and/or instructors.

Both bills are being sold to America as improvements for education. HR5 will give the states sovereignty again. HEA will save taxpayers money. Again, both of these points have been proven to be smoke in our eyes to blind us from the stark reality of what is really written in both bills! Both bills are the babies of not only Sen. Alexander, but a wide Sic’ ‘Em Saturday: CCSS Menu, Your Choice | commoncorediva:

Chicago Charter School Students Say UNO Teacher Was Fired for Union Activism - Working In These Times

Chicago Charter School Students Say UNO Teacher Was Fired for Union Activism - Working In These Times:

Chicago Charter School Students Say UNO Teacher Was Fired for Union Activism

"Who do we want?! Heise! When do we want him?!" "Now!" students chanted on the afternoon of June 9 as commuters drove down 47th street in Chicago, occasionally honking their horns to show support and solidarity. 

A young man in a suit and tie led the call-and-response chants, wielding a megaphone and firing up a small crowd of student protesters. That young man is Berto Aguayo, a graduate of Major Hector P. Garcia MD High School, an UNO Network charter school located in the Archer Heights neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago. He's also a former student of English teacher Rob Heise, who was fired by the school on June 3. 

Heise, an educator and activist who was active in the recently successful campaign to unionize his school—one of the most prominent charter chains in Chicago, which has recently come under heavy fire for accusations of corruption—was fired earlier this month for reasons the administration has declined to comment on. (The school did not respond to requests for an interview.) But according to students at Tuesday's protest, Alex Rock, the school's principal, told students that Mr. Heise was fired for failing to turn in students’ grades and assignments. Other students say they think Heise was fired for showing a Victoria's Secret commercial to a class during a discussion about how the media influences and distorts teens' body image and confidence. (Heise declined to comment on his case in light of upcoming legal challenges to his firing.)

Daniel Izguerra, who was in Heise's mentorship program before graduating last year, says he knows the real reason why Heise was fired. "They fired him for being an outspoken union activist." 

Heise was fired on the same day that teachers at Urban Prep charter schools voted to join the Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (ACTS), a union that is part of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The firing also occurred just days before the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), which represents some 27,000 teachers, administrators and paraprofessionals in the Chicago Public Schools system, rallied and marched in downtown Chicago, demanding a fair contract and a "just Chicago."

Word of Heise’s termination quickly spread among the student body, and on June 11, as fifth period lunch ended, dozens of students flooded the school’s third floor hallway to demand his reinstatement. 

Jessica Ramirez, one of his former students who is now a junior at Garcia High School, explained that students "were on the third floor linking hands in the hall protesting." "We said we were not going to go into [class] until they brought him back," said Ramirez. 

Protests continued the next Friday when some 30 students walked out during fifth period lunch. The students returned to school in time for sixth period but resumed their political activity once school let out. Dozens of current students joined alumni across the street on the southwest corner of 47th and Kildare to continue protesting. Over 50 students chanted in unison: "A good teacher belongs in the classroom! Bring back Heise!" Some even wore handmade spraypainted t-shirts with the hashtag #BBH—standing for “Bring Back Heise.” 

By Monday, a Facebook page created by unidentified students called "Bring Mr. Heise Back" had garnered over 500 likes, and a second afterschool protest drew out over 50 current and former students once more who picketed and chanted demands for the administration to reinstate Heise at once. 

The turnout for Tuesday's afterschool protest, however, was significantly smaller with only 18 students picketing, most of them alumni. According to the few current students present at Tuesday's protest, this is because Principal Rock called a mandatory afterschool meeting with all of the students who participated in Friday's fifth period walkout.  

"Threatening students with suspension on the week before finals is making it hard to keep the momentum going," explains Chicago Charter School Students Say UNO Teacher Was Fired for Union Activism - Working In These Times:

CURMUDGUCATION: Privatization Primer

CURMUDGUCATION: Privatization Primer:

Privatization Primer

Every once in a while I try to take the many complicated and twisty threads, back up, and tie them into a bigger picture. Think of this as the kind of post you can share with people who don't read blogs about education every single day (no kidding-- there are such people, and they're too busy doing the work to spend time reading about doing the work).

There are many threads to the reformy movement in education, but perhaps the most predominant one is the push for privatization. Many folks look at education and they just see a gigantic pile of money that has previously gone untouched. To them, education is a multi-billion dollar industry that nobody is making real profit from.

Many of the aspects and features of what I'm about to lay out appeal to other sorts of folks for other sorts of reasons, but here is how they fit into the agenda of privatizers.

Step One: Create Failure

Use metrics for measuring school success that will guarantee failure (that's where Common Core testing fits in). For instance, base the measure of school and teacher success on bad standardized tests that don't actually measure academic achievement as well as they measure poverty. These tests will also narrow the definition of success so that fewer students will fit through the eye of the needle (a brilliant musician who tests poorly in math and English will be counted as a failure). Norm these tests around a curve, so that somebody will always be on the failing end. 

The testing will create the appearance of failure, but policy can also create actual failure by stripping resources from schools. Every voucher and charter system drains money away from public schools; in some states (e.g. Pennsylvania) there are even caps on raising taxes so that local districts couldn't replace the shortfall even if they wanted to.

Concentrate these efforts on non-white, non-wealthy districts, which are both the most vulnerable and the least "protected" because their community has little political clout.

Use stack ranking so that whatever your metric, somebody is always in the bottom X% of the spread (5% has been a popular number).

If it seems as if your state has instituted policies that will force schools to fail, this is why. If there are no failing schools, there's no crisis, and if there's no crisis, there's no trigger for step two. 

Step Two: Consolidate Power

Once there's a crisis from the proliferation of failing schools, it's time to step in.  

You may hear the terms "turnaround" or "rescue" or even "takeover," but the basic process is the same-- the end of local control. Currently rising in popularity is the Achievement School Districtmodel, based on the Recovery School District of New Orleans and most fully attempted in Tennessee.

The basic principle is simple. These schools are failing, therefor the state must take them over. The CURMUDGUCATION: Privatization Primer:

Schools Matter: The Latest Racist/Classist StandardizedTest from ETS

Schools Matter: The Latest Racist/Classist StandardizedTest from ETS:

The Latest Racist/Classist StandardizedTest from ETS

A hundred years ago the first large scale IQ tests were devised by American eugenicists who saw testing as a surefire "scientific" way to sort, segregate, and mistreat "defectives," so that they would not mix and, therefore, stain the purity of the white middle class "germ plasm." 

The Alpha and Beta IQ tests were first administered to 1.75 million American military recruits at the outbreak of World War I.  The underprivileged who scored poorly were sent off to be gassed in the trenches of France. Those middle class young men who knew that tennis courts had nets and what bowling balls were supposed to look like aced the test and were given desk jobs in Washington or were sent off to officer training school. 

A few years after WWI another eugenicist did some minor modifications to the Army tests, and the result was the first college entrance exam known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test.  Machine scoring came a few years later, and nothing has changed since. 

Except that a universe of new standardized tests have been devised since those early days to do what the original racist tests did so effectively: weed out the underprivileged, the brown, the immigrant, the black.  Just as back then, the test results are directly correlated to family wealth and income, thus assuring that white and/or middle class privilege and scientific racism/classism will not be challenged as the rule of the Land.

So as Arne Duncan spews about the need for more black and brown teachers, he and his henchmen work overtime to inspire the development of new tests to make sure that black, brown, and immigrant groups remain cut out of teaching careers by tests designed to do just that.  Story from New York Times:

By ELIZABETH  A. HARRIS   JUNE 17, 2015

Students are not the only ones struggling to pass new standardized tests being rolled out around the country. So are those who want to be teachers.

Concerned that education schools were turning out too many middling graduates, states have been introducing more difficult teacher licensing exams. Perhaps not surprisingly, passing rates have fallen. But minority candidates have been doing especially poorly, jeopardizing a long-held goal of diversifying the teaching force so it more closely resembles the makeup of the country’s student body.

“This is very serious,” said David M. Steiner, dean of the School of Education at Hunter College and a former New York State education commissioner. “It reflects, of course, the tragic performance gap we see in just about every academic or aptitude test.”

On a common licensing exam called Praxis Core, a new test given in 31 states or jurisdictions that was created to be more rigorous than its predecessor, 55 percent of white candidates taking the test since October 2013 passed the math portion on their first try, according to the preliminary data from the Educational Testing Service, which designed the exam. The passing rate for first-time African- American test takers was 21.5 percent, and for Hispanic test takers, 35 percent. A similar gap was seen on the reading and writing portions.

In New York, which now has four separate licensing tests that candidates must pass, an analysis last year of the most difficult exam found that during a six-month period, only 41 percent of black and 46 percent of Hispanic candidates passed the test their first time, compared with 64 percent of their white counterparts.

A federal judge is now weighing whether the test is discriminatory. Because of complaints from education schools that students have not had enough time to adjust, as well as concern about the impact on minorities, at least two states — New York and Illinois — have already postponed or loosened some of their new requirements.

Israel Ramos, who graduated from the education school at Lehman College in the Bronx, failed New York’s toughest exam three times, once, he said, by just a few points. While working as a substitute, Mr. Ramos said, he was asked if he would be interested in staying on for at least six permanent teaching positions.

“And on all those occasions, I had to turn them down because I lacked certification,” he said.

On the fourth try, he passed the test, and he is interviewing for several teaching Schools Matter: The Latest Racist/Classist StandardizedTest from ETS:

Students faced with bullying, staff want more training, Portland schools survey results show | OregonLive.com

Students faced with bullying, staff want more training, Portland schools survey results show | OregonLive.com:

Students faced with bullying, staff want more training, Portland schools survey results show

Results from Portland Public Schools' latest student and employee surveys show that staff feel they need more training, and more than half of seventh-grade students were insulted, called names or made fun of at least once last year, in addition to other findings. 

Portland Public Schools released the results of its staff survey Thursday afternoon and findings from a student survey on Friday.  The Successful Schools Survey asked questions about school climate, discipline, professional development, instruction and more.

According to a report from Portland-firm DHM Research, which analyzed the results, about 1,460 school-based staff and administrators took the survey. About 34 percent of respondents taught in grades five or above, 26 percent taught in grades four or below and 5 percent were administrators. About a quarter of those who took the survey were classified staff.

Nearly 5,500 students in grades five, seven and 10 took the student version of the survey.

DHM Research provided un-weighted data and results weighted to reflect the PPS staff and student population. Here are a few takeaways from the surveys using un-weighted numbers:

Staff survey

• Schools have positive environments and promote academic success:Survey results reflect that staff largely feel their school environment is positive for students. About 90 percent agreed that their school is "a supportive and inviting place for students to learn." More than 85 percent agreed that their school works for academic success  and sets high academic standards. About 87 percent agreed that their school emphasizes relevant teaching strategies.
• Some staff don't have enough professional training, especially on how to serve special needs students: Some of the areas with the most disagreement were tied to professional support. For example, nearly 30 percent of those surveyed disagreed that they had adequate materials, resources and training to do their work effectively. Concerns about special education resources were also apparent. About 70 percent of those who took the survey said they work with special education students. About 61 percent said they need additional resources to serve students with special needs and roughly half of respondents said they needed more training on culturally relevant instruction and closing the achievement gap. About 45 percent said they need more training about helping English Language Learners and behavioral supports and classroom management.
• Some staff want support services and help with discipline: About 33 percent of survey takers disagreed that their school provided adequate counseling and support services for students. In terms of discipline, about 38 percent disagreed that behavioral and discipline issues are handled effectively. Survey results also reflect a need for additional prevention instruction, according to the report. About 54 percent of those who took the survey said their school provided little or no instruction on drug and alcohol use prevention. Roughly 23 percent said their school provides little or no instruction on harassment of bullying prevention.

You can see the full survey here.

Student Survey

• Most fifth-grade students feel connected to school, but some lessons don't address different backgrounds: More than 93 percent of students said they "feel close to people at school" at least some of the time, and more than 74 percent said they felt that way most of the time or all of the time. About 83 percent said teachers treat them with respect most of the time or all of the time. However, results also show that class lessons don't always reflect a student's background. About 30 percent of fifth-grade students say their lessons never have examples of their "racial, ethnic or cultural background."
• Many seventh-grade students feel safe at school, but students also reported bullying: About 58 percent of students in seventh-grade said they feel safe at school and another 28 percent said they feel very safe. Similar percentages of students said they feel safe in the hallways, cafeteria and restrooms specifically. Yet students also reported concerns with bullying. About 43 percent of students said they had been the subject of mean lies or rumors at least once in the past year. Another 38 percent said they had been made fun of because of how they look or talk at least once. More than 20 percent of students said they had "been made fun of, insulted or called names," four or more times in the past year, and 53 percent experienced those situations at least once. The report also found that non-historically underserved students were more likely to have not been harassed or bullied in the past year.
• Tenth-grade students notice misbehaving peers, strong teacher support: About 60 percent of high school students who took the survey disagreed that their peers behave how teachers would like them to. Another 38 percent agreed that it is easy for students to get kicked out of school, and about 40 percent said that sexual jokes, comments or gestures had been directed at them at least once in the past year. Students also noted strong support from adults. About 91 percent of 10th-grade students said it was at least a little true that there is an adult at the school who believes in their success.

The full student survey is here. 

Superintendent Carole Smith said she appreciated getting feedback from employees and students, and said the district is committed to anti-bullying and racial equity work.

 "A supportive and inclusive learning environment is among the most crucial ingredient for all students to reach their potential," she said in a statement. "We want to build on what's working in our schools and fix what isn't."

The results of a companion survey for parents, hosted by Portland State University's Oregon's Kitchen Table program, came out last month. More than 6,000 parents and guardians took the study. 

--Laura Frazier

lfrazier@oregonian.com
503-294-4035
@frazier_laura

Students faced with bullying, staff want more training, Portland schools survey results show | 

Children should advance in school according to skill, not age - Quartz

Children should advance in school according to skill, not age - Quartz:

Children should advance in school according to skill, not age

In 2010, a fifth-grade student named Jack started the year at the bottom of his class in math at Santa Rita Elementary School in the Los Altos School District in California. He struggled to keep up, and grew to consider himself one of those kids who would just never quite ‘‘get it.’’ In a typical school, he would have been tracked and placed in the bottom math group. That would have meant that he would not have taken algebra until high school, which would have negatively impacted his college and career choices.

But Jack’s story took a less familiar turn. His school transformed his class into a “blended-learning” environment. After 70 days of using Khan Academy’s online math tutorials and exercises for a portion of his math three to four days a week, rather than remaining tracked in bottom math group, Jack rose to become one of the top four students in his class. He was working on material well above grade level.

Jack’s rapid progress sounds like the stuff of movies or magic, but it isn’t. It’s an example of the power of online learning to personalize learning for each student.

Earlier this month, a group of business and academic leaders released an “Open Letter on the Digital Economy” to shine a bright light on how digital innovations are remaking society and bringing the possibility of unparalleled growth—but also unprecedented challenges.

The group highlighted that we need significant changes in our education system to prepare the citizenry for this future. “It will not be enough simply to invest more in education. We need to redesign how we deliver education at all levels using the power of digital technologies,” the group wrote. “We need to shift away from rote learning and build instead on our uniquely human strengths in areas like creativity and interpersonal interactions.”

As Jack’s story shows, fortunately we don’t need to look hard for such a solution. It is already materializing in a growing number of K–12 schools across the country in the form of blended learning: brick-and-mortar schools providing online lessons for students. Blended learning allows for the personalization of learning at scale and at an affordable price, but still offers the benefits of the traditional schooling experience.

This is critical because all students have different learning needs at different times. Blended learning allows students to learn at their own path and pace, while also leaving teachers more time to mentor and coach each individual student.

As a result, learning online while still in school (instead of after hours) can provide each and every student the right educational opportunity at the right time so that all students can fulfill their fullest human potential. It can also free up teachers to focus far more on helping students work on meaningful projects, take part in Socratic discussions, engage in the community, and participate in other activities that allow students to discover their passions, create and innovate.

Schools using blended learning are increasingly posting impressive results. Serving a student population in which over 90 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and all students are Black or Hispanic or identify as more than one race, Los Angeles charter school KIPP Empower adopted blended learning in 2010. Until recently, California used an Academic Performance Index to rate the performance of its schools with 1000 being the highest score and 800 being the targeted score. KIPP Children should advance in school according to skill, not age - Quartz:

English Class in Common Core Era: ‘Tom Sawyer’ and Court Opinions - The New York Times

English Class in Common Core Era: ‘Tom Sawyer’ and Court Opinions - The New York Times:

English Class in Common Core Era: ‘Tom Sawyer’ and Court Opinions

In Harrison, N.Y., 10th graders read articles about bipolar disorder and the adolescent brain to help them analyze Holden Caulfield. In Springdale, Ark., ninth graders studying excerpts from “The Odyssey” also readsections of the G.I. Bill of Rights, and a congressional resolution on its 60th anniversary, to connect the story of Odysseus to the challenges of modern-day veterans. After eighth graders in Naples, Fla., read how Tom Sawyer duped other boys into whitewashing a fence for him, they follow it with anop-ed article on teenage unemployment.

In the Common Core era, English class looks a little different.

The Common Core standards, which have been adopted by more than 40 states, mandated many changes to traditional teaching, but one of the most basic was a call for students to read more nonfiction. The rationale is that most of what students will be expected to read in college and at work will be informational, rather than literary, and that American students have not been well prepared to read those texts.

Photo

Under Common Core standards, the reading of fiction classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird" is complemented by historical and contemporary texts like newspaper articles.CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times

At first, many English teachers and other defenders of literature feared that schools would respond by cutting the classics. That has happened, to some extent. But most districts have managed to preserve much of the classroom canon while adding news articles, textbook passages, documentaries, maps and other material that students read or watch alongside the literature, English Class in Common Core Era: ‘Tom Sawyer’ and Court Opinions - The New York Times:

Texas turns away from criminal truancy courts for students - San Francisco Chronicle

Texas turns away from criminal truancy courts for students - San Francisco Chronicle:

Texas turns away from criminal truancy courts for students

Natod'Ja Washington, left, 16, poses for a photo with her mother Natasha Holloway in their home as they hold a student sign in sheet for truancy court Friday, June 19, 2015, in Dallas. The form must be signed by all of her teachers confirming Washington's attendance in school.

DALLAS (AP) — A long-standing Texas law that has sent about 100,000 students a year to criminal court — and some to jail — for missing school is off the books, though a Justice Department investigation into one county's truancy courts continues.

Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law a measure to decriminalize unexcused absences and require school districts to implement preventive measures. It will take effect Sept. 1.

Reform advocates say the threat of a heavy fine — up to $500 plus court costs — and a criminal record wasn't keeping children in school and was sending those who couldn't pay into a criminal justice system spiral. Under the old law, students as young as 12 could be ordered to court for three unexcused absences in four weeks. Schools were required to file a misdemeanor failure to attend school charge against students with more than 10 unexcused absences in six months. And unpaid fines landed some students behind bars when they turned 17.

"Most of the truancy issues involve hardships," state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said. "To criminalize the hardships just doesn't solve anything. It costs largely low-income families. It doesn't address the root causes."

Only two states in the U.S. — Texas and Wyoming — send truants to adult criminal court. In 2013, Texas prosecuted about 115,000 cases, more than twice the number of truancy cases filed in juvenile courts of all other states, according to a report from the nonprofit advocacy group Texas Appleseed. An estimated $10 million was collected from court costs and fines from students for truancy in fiscal year 2014 alone, the Texas Office of Court Administration said.

Texas Appleseed says the policies disproportionately affected low-income, Hispanic, black and disabled students. The group was also among several groups that filed a U.S. Justice Department complaint about Dallas County's specialty truancy courts, which in 2012 prosecuted over 36,000 cases, more than any other Texas county. The Justice Department in March began looking into whether students had received due process, something spokeswoman Dena Iverson said will continue as the department evaluates the new legislation's impact.

In 12 of the state's largest 15 counties, Texas Appleseed told The Associated Press, at least 1,283 teenagers were jailed for failure to attend school from January 2013 through April 2015. At least 910 of them spent at least one night in jail.

Peyton Walker's absences began piling up in seventh grade as she suffered from depression, anxiety and migraines, she said. After missing a court date in Dallas County truancy court at the Texas turns away from criminal truancy courts for students - San Francisco Chronicle: