Texas
Historic Texas Maps On Display At Texas A&M’s Cushing Library
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A 1574 map by Girolamo Ruscelli is among the many gadgets featured in “Charting Texas – A Historical past of the State Via Maps” at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives.
Laura McKenzie/Texas A&M Division of Advertising and marketing & Communications
One of many solely pristine historic maps of Texas now resides at Texas A&M College’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. This map, amongst others, will probably be on show by means of Dec. 9 as a part of the exhibit “Charting Texas – A Historical past of the State Via Maps.”
The exhibition, situated on the library’s second ground, options a number of maps and books documenting centuries of exploration and political competitors for one particular space of North America – Texas.
“I’m enthusiastic about ‘Charting Texas’ for the reason that exhibit brings into view a lot historical past and geography of Texas from these lovely, but revealing and informative maps,” stated Anton duPlessis ’03, curator of the Louise and Floyd Chapman Texas and Borderlands Assortment.
Due to developments over time in geographic information, surveying methods and printing know-how, guests can see the historical past of Texas’ borders and statehood emerge by means of the colourful show of a skillfully curated collection of 70 historic maps with accompanying manuscripts and books.
“You’ll see how Texas adjustments by means of the acquisition of land grants and with the affect of immigration. After which in the end governmental resolution making on the native and federal ranges,” stated Director of Cushing Library Beth Kilmarx.
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Anton duPlessis is the curator of the Louise and Floyd Chapman Texas and Borderlands Assortment. The brand new exhibit is on show on the library’s second ground.
Laura McKenzie/Texas A&M Division of Advertising and marketing & Communications
Among the many assortment is Stephen F. Austin’s 1830 Map of Texas, landmark piece of Texas and cartographic historical past as the primary map of Texas to be printed in the USA and the second map of Texas ever to be printed – the primary being printed in Philadelphia by H.S. Tanner.
Among the many assortment is Stephen F. Austin’s 1830 Map of Texas, a landmark piece of Texas and cartographic historical past as the primary map of Texas to be printed in the USA by H.S. Tanner and the second map of Texas ever to be printed – the primary being printed in Mexico Metropolis.
The copy of Austin’s 1830 map at Cushing Library is certainly one of solely 10 or so which can be recognized to exist. In contrast to different maps on show, it’s in notably pristine situation having been saved in its unique leather-based folio. Acquiring a map of this high quality with a leather-based folio is extraordinarily uncommon, duPlessis stated.
As a part of Austin’s land settlement with the Mexican authorities, Austin needed to put together a map depicting rivers, coasts and traits of the land. His map supplies an in depth and correct illustration of Texas derived from his years as an empresario – the individual chargeable for engaging settlers to the frontier areas of Mexico below Spanish, and later Mexican, rule.
The oldest map within the assortment dates to 1574, with the latest relationship to the early half of the twentieth century. The form of Texas advanced, expanded and contracted as wars had been gained and misplaced each right here and on different continents, Kilmarx stated.
The maps within the assortment had been created to facilitate territorial growth and help colonization by claiming lands earlier than they had been occupied by colonial powers, heedless of the indigenous inhabitants.
“A specific favourite is an early 1760s hand drawn map by a soldier at San Saba displaying the areas of Spanish, French, and Indigenous websites throughout this contested area,” duPlessis stated.
Lots of the books featured within the exhibit served to advertise immigration to Texas, praising the wealthy, plentiful and cheap land and interesting local weather. As soon as settlers arrived in Texas, books and manuscripts supplied guides to totally different property surveying strategies with accompanying illustrations and tables that coated the geometric rules of surveying.
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Texas
Can Texas lawmakers close the ‘floodgates’ of uncertified teachers that they opened?
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The explosion of uncertified teachers is a problem — that’s the message Texas’ education chief brought to lawmakers this week.
More than half of brand-new educators last year lacked a state certification, meaning it was impossible to know what kind of training they received.
“We are setting these folks up for a very rough ride,” Education Commissioner Mike Morath told lawmakers during a recent House committee hearing.
He ticked through data illustrating the myriad ways teachers without formal training can impact learning. A state analysis, for example, found that schools with lower academic accountability scores hired higher rates of uncertified teachers.
A decade ago, the Legislature created a system that empowered district administrators to loosen hiring requirements. Now, faced with the repercussions, lawmakers want to fix it.
Rep. Gina Hinojosa acknowledged this dynamic while calling the volume of uncertified teachers unacceptable.
“We need to take responsibility for some of that because we’ve made it easier to get into a classroom without certification,” the Austin Democrat told her colleagues. “That is a policy decision that we have made.”
Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, put it more bluntly: “We opened the floodgates.”
School administrators can waive certain requirements by applying for a “District of Innovation” designation. This ability, which began with a 2015 law change, is among the factors driving the spike in uncertified educators in public schools.
The law change gave traditional public schools some of the flexibility already afforded to charter schools. District leaders can exempt themselves from a wide array of rules related to school start dates, class sizes or teacher certification requirements.
More than 980 school districts have District of Innovation status, according to the Texas Education Agency. That’s the majority of the state’s public schools systems.
While agency officials log innovation plans, they don’t have power to approve or reject them, effectively giving them no oversight over how many schools open their classrooms to uncertified educators.
Texas’ reliance on uncertified new teacher hires shot up – hitting a historic high – after the pandemic exacerbated educator shortages and left administrators scrambling to fill classrooms. Meanwhile, the state’s largest teacher preparation program was under state scrutiny.
An omnibus school finance bill from Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, includes attempts to rein in the system that allows teachers to skirt certification.
The proposal would limit which classes uncertified educators can teach in the future. To encourage certification, it would give to districts a $1,000 allotment for every recently hired uncertified teacher who earns a standard certificate by the end of next school year.
Buckley’s proposal encourages district leaders to pay beginning teachers with certifications higher salaries than those who are not. Districts of Innovation could also not opt-out of notifying parents if their children are assigned to an uncertified teacher.
Kate Greer, managing director for policy and state coalition at The Commit Partnership, said the proposal reflects that “the more training a teacher can have … the better off those kids are.”
Texas must deal in the short-term with the fact that many students in uncertified teachers’ classrooms aren’t learning as much as children paired with educators who have extensive training, she said.
“And longer term, how do we incentivize what the data shows is really good for kids, which is having highly qualified, highly prepared teachers in front of students,” Greer said.
Impact of certification
To become a certified teacher in Texas, candidates must earn a bachelor’s degree, complete an educator preparation program, pass related exams, submit a state application and go through a background check.
The road to the classroom without state certification is less clear.
Some uncertified educators may be switching careers from the corporate world or the military. Others may have worked as teachers in other states and didn’t want to apply for a Texas certificate when they moved.
Others could be recent graduates who saw open positions in their local district.
The level of training these educators begin with is wide-ranging, officials say, from years in schools to essentially nonexistent.
That stands in contrast to educators who come from high-quality preparation programs where they must spend copious time learning how to manage student behavior, plan lessons and serve children with disabilities.
An emerging body of research examines the potential negative effects of uncertified teachers who lack previous experience in the classroom.
Students with new uncertified teachers lost the equivalent of about four months of learning in reading and three months in math, according to a Texas Tech University study.
Such educators also identified elementary school students for dyslexia services at a lower rate than their certified counterparts.
Roughly two-thirds of uncertified teachers left the profession after five years compared to about one-third of those who are traditionally certified, according to Texas Education Agency data.
And finally, a state analysis found that schools that saw decreased academic accountability outcomes since 2019 also saw an increase in the percentage of uncertified teachers.
When schools gained District of Innovation flexibility a decade ago, many officials initially used the certification waiver to hire career and technical education teachers. They looked for industry professionals who lacked a certificate but brought real-world experience to teach students about plumbing, culinary arts, graphic design and other industries.
These days uncertified teachers lead a much broader array of classrooms.
In elementary school, roughly 10% of those who taught English, social studies, math and science were uncertified last year.
Meanwhile, in high school, one in five career and technical education teachers was uncertified as was roughly one in 10 science teachers.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
Texas
First measles death reported in Texas child amid outbreak infecting more than 120 people
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A child who was hospitalized with measles has died from the illness in West Texas, state and local health officials announced Wednesday. It is the first death in a measles outbreak that has infected more than 120 people since late last month.
Lubbock health officials and the Department of State Health Services said the patient who died was an unvaccinated school-aged child who passed away in the last 24 hours.
As of Wednesday, the Texas health department reported at least 18 hospitalizations in the outbreak, which is primarily affecting children and teenagers. Nearly all of those who have been reported ill in Texas were unvaccinated. Nine cases have been reported in neighboring New Mexico.
As many as 1 in 20 children with measles will develop pneumonia, CDC data shows. In some cases, measles can cause severe infections in the lungs and brain that can lead to cognitive issues, deafness or death.
While most people’s symptoms improve, about 1 in 5 unvaccinated people will be hospitalized, 1 out of every 1,000 will develop brain swelling that can lead to brain damage, and up to 3 of every 1,000 will die.
Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases, but doctors and health officials say the vaccine, which is normally given as part of the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, is highly safe and effective.
Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said recently on “CBS Mornings” that lower vaccination rates allow measles to spread, noting that even a slight dip in coverage can lead to outbreaks.
“This is a measles outbreak that began in a very close-knit, rural, Mennonite community that has very low vaccination rates. And unfortunately, we have seen vaccination rates exemptions … really soar in Texas in recent years,” she said.
According to recent KFF polling, about 17% of parents say they have skipped or delayed a vaccine dose for their children.
“This is up from about 10% just two years ago. So we’re really seeing a lot of exemptions [and] concerns about vaccination that are not warranted,” Gounder said.
Before a vaccine became available in the 1960s, between 400 and 500 Americans — mostly children — died every year from measles.
Texas
North Texas doctor helps parents facing infant loss deal with the unimaginable
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After healthy pregnancies with her first two children, Yvette Ngo felt she knew what to expect when she found out she was expecting her third.
She surprised her husband Thomas by tucking a positive pregnancy test into an Amazon box.
The Arlington couple shared the news in their annual Christmas card. They celebrated their gender reveal with pink confetti. And they eagerly awaited the arrival of the baby girl they planned to name Zoey.
A life-changing phone call
But a 20-week anatomy scan revealed problems with Zoey’s heart and kidney, leading to further testing. When Yvette Ngo received a call from the genetics counselor, she remembers being asked if her husband was available.
“I said, ‘Oh, he’s at work right know, but you could tell me.’ And she said ‘I’d like for you to try to get your husband,’” Yvette said. “At that moment I knew there was some bad news coming.”
Zoey had Trisomy 13, a rare genetic condition that affects development of the heart, brain and other organs. In most cases, it results in a miscarriage. When babies do survive birth, it’s often not for long.
After pressing for more help, the family met with neonatologist Dr. Terri Weinman. Her specialty is helping families navigate the unthinkable, providing palliative care, or hospice, to the smallest of patients.
“What I do is meet with families who are pregnant with a child who has been diagnosed with a condition that is scary,” Weinman said. “And can help that family understand this might, in fact, be a life-limiting diagnosis for your baby.”
Palliative care for infants
Weinman said providing palliative care to infants is a hard job, and one that did not exist 20 years ago. That is when Weinman said she first noticed she and her colleagues had different ways of caring for newborns who were unlikely to survive. She learned about palliative care as a specialty, but at the time it was mainly for adults with terminal illnesses, not for young children.
For two years, she spent her evenings after work with a team of healthcare providers offering hospice care to adults while looking for ways to adapt the practice for her pediatric patients.
“We’re so focused on the medicine part of it, that we weren’t focusing on the human part of it,” Weinman said.
She created a list of questions to review with parents — from what interventions they want to take to what memories they want to create.
“When we met Dr. Weinman and her team the first time, she would say things like, ‘So, what are we going to do when Zoey is here,’ which changed my mindset completely,” Yvette Ngo said. “Before then I hadn’t even thought about that. I was expecting the worst.”
For the first time, the Ngos began to consider what Zoey’s life, short as it might be, could look like.
“It made us more comfortable with the situation, I mean as comfortable as you can be,” Thomas Ngo said. “She just gave us hope.”
Zoey was born on April 18, 2024. She met her parents, her siblings and her grandparents. She was baptized.
“They made us little crafts and mementos for us to take home, like footprints, really ways to help cherish Zoey’s life,” Yvette Ngo said. “They took her heartbeat and recorded it for us. Little things that we wouldn’t necessarily think of.
Zoey even had a chance to go home. But after 36 hours of life, Zoey passed away in her father’s arms.
CBS News Texas
The perinatal palliative care Zoey received remains rare. But for families like the Ngos, it provides a small sense of control when it’s needed most.
“Being able to plan so much in advance and think about all the different scenarios and how we wanted it,” Yvette Ngo said. ” I think, looking back on our time with Zoey…”
“We wouldn’t have done anything differently,” Thomas Ngo said.
This is part three of three in our series about the work being done by local health experts to address rising infant mortality rates. See more from this series here.
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