Dateline: August 9, 2007

Clarendon ISD scores improve, rating drops

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Clarendon Independent School District dropped a level in the state’s accountability system this year even as test scores for the district as a whole remained the same or improved over last year’s results.

Ratings released August 1 by the Texas Education Agency show that CISD has earned an Acceptable school district rating after being rated as Recognized for the last two years. The difference this year is that certain sub-population demographics kept the school from reaching the state’s second highest rating.

“Overall we made strides, and the junior high campus showed marked improvement,” Superintendent Monty Hysinger said. “After school tutorials and other efforts have really paid off.”

The Clarendon Junior High campus was rated Recognized by TEA. Clarendon Elementary was Recognized for the fourth year, and Clarendon High was Acceptable.

CJH Principal Marvin Elam praised his kids and teachers for raising that campus’ rating this year.

“We’re working harder, and hard work has paid off,” he said. “The kids wanted to do this, they wanted to pass, and they did.”

The ratings are partly based on Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills (TAKS) scores.

On the TAKS across the district, Clarendon had 93 percent of students pass the reading portion of the test, the same as last year; 95 percent in writing, up from 94 percent; 92 percent in social studies, up from 86 percent; 82 percent in math, up from 79 percent; and 82 percent in science, the same as in 2005.

Results of each test section is examined by the state based on the school’s performance as a whole and based on results of different population categories, such as African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

For each subpopulation, test scores must be at or above 75 percent to achieve TEA’s Recognized status. As a district, CISD fell short of that score in one subpopulation group in mathematics.

“We continue to be very strong academically,” Hysinger said. “Our economically disadvantaged kids continues to be a focus for us.”

Standards for the TAKS continue to get higher, and the test themselves keep getting tougher, but Hysinger said overall Clarendon kids did very well.

“In the nine grades tested, there are 27 actual tests,” he said. “Twenty-two of those were better than or equal to the state average for us.”

Clarendon TAKS results are as follows: Third grade – reading, 100 percent, math 83 percent; Fourth grade – writing 88 percent, reading 85 percent, math 96 percent; Fifth grade – reading 100 percent, math 93 percent, science 97 percent; Sixth grade – reading 92 percent, math 78 percent; Seventh grade – writing 100 percent, reading 86 percent, math 80 percent; Eighth grade – reading 95 percent, math 79 percent, social studies 83 percent, science 73 percent; Ninth grade – reading 95 percent, math 67 percent; Tenth grade – English/language arts 97 percent, social studies 100 percent, math 69 percent, science 65 percent; and Eleventh grade – English/language arts 96 percent, social studies 96 percent, math 85 percent, and science 89 percent.

Across the state, of school districts other than charter schools, 19 were Exemplary, 187 were Recognized, 803 were Acceptable, and 22 were Academically Unacceptable. A total of 622 Texas public school campuses earned the Exemplary rating; 2,308 were recognized; 3,888 were Acceptable; and 250 were Academically Unacceptable.

Senate Bill 1031 passed by the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, included a new requirement for a Select Committee on Public School Accountability to conduct a comprehensive review of the public school accountability system.

The committee must conduct an in-depth, comprehensive review of the public school accountability system to study the mission, organizational structure, and practices of similar systems in other states and the requirements established by federal law.

The bill requires that the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House of Representatives appoint the fifteen committee members and requires that the committee is co-chaired by the presiding officers of standing committees of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over public education. An organizational meeting is required no later than October 1, 2007.