TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009 (copyright 2009 Texas AFT)   * State Board of Education Debates Social-Studies Standards Next Week * "Top Ten Percent" Rule, Revised * Online Resource: Diane Ravitch on the Failings of Federal Education "Reform"   State Board of Education Preview: The 15-member, elected State Board of Education meets September 16-18, with social-studies curriculum standards as one of the lead items on the agenda. Board members will be looking at draft revisions of the social-studies standards for subjects such as U.S. history. Proposals floated by SBOE members' appointed curriculum reviewers, some of whom boast rather meager credentials for the task, have raised concerns that they have an ideological ax to grind. We'll have more to say about this ideological agenda as the SBOE meeting date approaches.   Also on the board's agenda for next week are changes in graduation requirements and amendments to SBOE policy on handling applications for charter schools. Under HB 3, enacted last spring, the board retains authority over graduation requirements under both the Minimum and Distinguished Achievement Programs, though not under the Recommended High School Program. State law also gives to SBOE the authority to approve charter-school applications. Texas AFT will be keeping an eye on the State Board's actions and will give you a full report. "Top Ten Percent" Rule, Revised: The "Top Ten Percent" Rule guarantees admission to any state university for high-school students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class. But this year the University of Texas at Austin talked the legislature into limiting access under this rule to the UT System's flagship campus in the state capital. Under the revised law that takes effect with the 2011 freshman class, no more than 75 percent of UT-Austin's entering class will be filled by automatic admissions under the "Top Ten Percent" rule.   Otherwise, the rule remains in full force and effect at all public universities in the state. And even the special modification of the rule for UT-Austin expires in 2015, when the legislature will have to decide whether to keep the cap on automatic "Top Ten Percent" admissions.   Our friends at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund note that under the new law high schools must provide written notification to all entering high-school freshmen and their parents of the requirements of the revised "Top Ten Percent" rule. In addition, high-school counselors have the task of explaining the law's requirements to high-school sophomores and juniors who rank in the top 25 percent of their class.   What If Washington Doesn’t Know Best? Education scholar Diane Ravitch minces no words in criticizing the unfortunate continuity of misguided federal educational "reform" efforts from President George W. Bush to President Barack Obama. Her criticisms are tough but, in our view, well-founded. Ravitch speaks with special authority on these issues, as a leader in the standards-based reform movement and a former federal education official in the administration of the first President Bush. For a recent statement of her views, see Ravitch’s interview with education reporter John Merrow, posted online at http://learningmatters.tv/blog/op-ed/privatization-will-not-help-us-achieve-our-goals-an-interview-with-diane-ravitch/2413/.