TOO MANY SCHOOLS LEFT BEHIND:
Too Many Schools Left Behind
By Ericka Mellon
The Houston Chronicle (front page article)
August 9, 2012
[Don't dismiss this article as being too old! This is an accounting of the results of the first STAAR Test, and usually the first time these standardized tests are given is the ONLY time a correct reading of the actual level of accomplishment is revealed. After the first year, the TEA and other interested parties begin to manipulate things--like the passing standard, the questions on the test to make them easier, and so on. Public school superintendents, the TASA, the TASB and sometimes the TEA are reluctant to have the public see how poorly Texas students are doing on these assessment tests. IF they were to give cognitive tests, the results would be even worse! They cannot tell parents the truth or there would be an uprising, and home developers would stop donating to board members' campaign funds and taking administrators out to play golf.]
Nearly all the area's districts flunk 2012 federal standards
Nearly all the school districts and some elite schools in the Greater Houston area failed to meet tougher federal academic targets this year, confusing parents, frustrating educators and prompting calls for changes in the No Child Left Behind Law. [Notice that no one called for a review of the curriculum and the methodology that are worthless and the reason why the students did so poorly on the test!]
Preliminary data released Wednesday by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) shows that 71% of districts and nearly half of all schools statewide are falling short under the federal system.
The failures spiked sharply from last year, when a quarter of the state's schools were unable to meet the standard, called "adequate yearly progress," or AYP.
Debbie Ratcliffe, a TEA spokeswoman, urged parents not to panic. [Here comes the damage control.]
"Parents need to think about all the other information they know about their schools when they judge the quality of them," she said. "This year to meet AYP, schools had to be performing at the equivalent of about a B-plus level, and that's a long way from failing. [Ms. Ratcliffe's analysis may or may not be accurate!]
In the Houston Independent School District, the largest in the state, the number of failing campuses more than doubled since last year to 169. Only 36 percent of the district's schools met the federal standards. The ratings are based on standardized test scores in reading and math, graduation rates and student attendance. [Please note that these factors are basic to a public school education. If students can't read or do math or graduate, and don't come to school regularly, there is a huge problem!!]
WAIVERS PERMITTED
Some parents were perplexed to learn that some of HISD's most prestigious campuses, including Lamar and Bellaire, had failing grades. Other typical high-performing suburban schools such as Memorial High in Spring Branch and Cinco Ranch in Katy also missed AYP.
"I'm hoping the school will look at it and take action to address where the needs are, but I'm not going to overreact," said Mary Lynn Khater, the president of the Lamar High Parent group.
The education law, enacted in 2002 under then-President George W. Bush, has been praised for focusing attention on the performance of poor and minority students, but has faced mounting criticism in recent years as being too punitive. [Note the effort to blame "minority students" without naming WHICH minority students. Asian students in KatyISD score better than white students on all the standardized tests that are given. This testing matter has nothing to do with race or ethnicity--it has to do with curriculum and methodology.]
With Congress unable to agree on changes, President Barack Obama has allowed states to seek waivers from certain parts of the law. [Can't have board members, or state and national elected Democrats having to answer tough questions about the poor education being delivered in our public schools!] Texas is one of a dozen states that have not applied.
Ratcliffe said the TEA has not ruled out applying, but officials are concerned that the deal comes with strings attached such as requiring states to adopt certain curriculum standards. [like Common Core!]
Besides HISD, these other largest Houston area districts missed the federal benchmarks: Alief, Aldine, Clear Creek, Conroe, Cypress-Fairbanks, Humble, Fort Bend, Katy, Klein, Spring, and Spring Branch.
The local districts that met the standard are mostly smaller systems: Friendswood, Sheldon, Tomball, Waller and Lamar Consolidated.
The law rates districts and individual schools. Districts that have failed for two consecutive years must notify parents, draft improvement plans and spend federal funds on staff training.
Students in many of the underperforming schools can transfer to other campuses or receive tutoring, though traditionally few take advantage of those options. Teachers and principals in schools that repeatedly fall short can lose their jobs.
Statewide, 48% of schools missed the mark. That's about the same as the number that failed nationally last year, according to the Center on Education Policy.
PROFICIENCY by 2014
States have had to ratchet up standards in recent years because the law requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
To hit the federal targets this year, at least 87 percent of Texas students had to pass the state's language arts test, and 83% had to pass the math exam. The passing standards increased by 7 or 8 percentage points over the last year.
Students in Texas also had to take new, tougher tests called the STAAR this year. The U. S. Department of Education denied a request by the TEA for a one-year break in the federal ratings because of the change at the state level.
Many educators complain that the federal law labels an entire school a failure based on the performance of a few children and doesn't credit improvement. Schools are judged on the scores of various subgroups, including students of different races and those from low-income families.
H. D. Chambers, the superintendent of Alief ISD, said the district would have achieved AYP if two additional students had been given credit for passing. He plans to appeal.
"This law doesn't allow the community to truly know how their district is performing," he said.
In Clear Creek, Superintendent Greg Smith said his district fell short fot the second year because it exceeded the number of special-education students allowed to take modified exams.
"IT IS RIDICULOUS"
Requiring all students to pass the same tests, Smith Said, is like asking all athletes to run the 100-meter dash in under 11 seconds. [Don't you love how educators think? None of them ever took a course in logic, that's for sure!]
"It is ridiculous," he said. "We prefer to spend our time focusing on metrics that mean something to our community, and this is not one of those."
But Bill Hammond, the president of the Texas Association of Business, labeled the test results "disappointing" and urged the state not to weaken accountability. [This would be the first and only time that the TAB ever suggested such a thing.]
"These results will force schools to take a look at where their weaknesses are and come up with plans to address those weaknesses," Hammond said in a statement. "I think that will improve education in the long run."
The following is a list of school districts in the Houston area that did not meet federal standards under the No Child Left Behind Act:
Alief, Aldine, Clear Creek, Conroe, Cy-Fair, Fort Bend, Houston, Humble, Katy, Klein, Spring and Spring Branch.
[What happened with this matter? I went to the regular KISD school board meeting right after these results were announced. It looked like a wake. And then, after all the superintendents leaned on the TEA, miraculously a year before they would have ordinarily done it, they CHANGED the standard!!! And Voila!!! All of a sudden things were back to normal, and we had "successful schools" and no one had to lose a job, and no developers lost customers, and schools put up more signs on their buildings about how wonderful they are, and parents were happy in La La Land once again.]