KATY ISD ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS:

KISD continues to brag about their "accountability ratings."  Frankly, there's not much there to brag about, in my opinion.  This scheme of the TEA to pretend that they are "testing" students with "assessment" tests is bogus.

These aren't really tests at all, being just a means of finding out if students are embracing and succumbing to the dumbed down curriculum that is currently being used in our Katy schools.

And even though the students are being "tested" on nebulous matter, they have still set the bar for "passing" so low as to be not credible--even on the "assessments."

Superintendent Frailey seems not to understand that these tests ARE NOT "standardized tests."  He doesn't seem to realize that "assessment tests and standardized tests" are not the same thing!  That's a critical mistake on his part.  I guess he is as fooled by the designations as most of the public.  Just so you know, a standardized test is like the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  Go here for a more explicit definition:  http://edglossary.org/standardized-test/

The last quote from Mr. Frailey in this article is almost incomprehensible-- (once one gets past the bad grammar) the content doesn't make a bit of sense!

Here is an article from the Community Extra (Katy section of the Houston Chronicle August 21-27, 2014) that recounts the pitiful scheme:

Posted on August 12, 2014 | By Leah Binkovitz

The Texas Education Agency’s annual accountability ratings are out and while they showed mixed results for Houston ISD, the numbers for Katy area schools were strong overall. And for Katy, a district whose reputation is used to sell houses, that’s important.

First the numbers:

The Ups: The district posted gains in both student achievement, which inched up from 89 to 90, and student progress, which jumped from 37 to 46.

The Downs: But it saw declines in its post-secondary readiness, down 11 points from 88, and performance gap scores, which dropped from 82 to 48.

Distinctions: Six campuses earned all of the possible distinctions, which measure the percentage of students in the top quartile as compared to peer schools in areas like social studies, math and science, as well as progress toward closing the performance gap. Taylor High School, Cinco Ranch High School and Seven Lakes High School earned six out of six distinctions while Garland McMeans Junior High and Beckendroff Junior High both earned seven out of seven possible distinctions. Ursula Stephens Elementary was the only elementary school in the district to earn all six of its distinctions.

According to Superintendent Alton Frailey, the simplest indicator of a district’s performance is its overall student achievement, which looks at standardized test scores. Looking at the past year’s STAAR results, overall 90 percent of the district’s students met standard, for example. But there was a range of results from one group to the next. The group that struggled the most–with 70 percent of students meeting test standards–was English Language Learners.

In a booming school district, the ratings make a difference to parents looking for a place to move. “I think it’s a pretty good indication of how your school is doing,” said Ken Yee, a Katy ISD dad who moved to the area for a job with Chevron from Southern California one year ago. He made sure to check local rankings before deciding on Katy.

But Frailey said the rankings, which changed this year to include more comprehensive measures, are useful up to a point. “With the new accountability system there’s so many variables that go into place and politics that go into play,” he said, “that the numbers game starts and we don’t play the numbers game.” [ Please note right here, that while I did not realize that the STAAR Test was measuring academic matter that KISD was refusing to teach, Alton Frailey apparently knew exactly what the problem was but chose not to explain to us what he knew! That is reprehensible behavior, in my opinion. MM]

Instead, he said curriculum and individual results mattered more. “We know that our community wants us to meet standards, but they want to make sure their kids are learning as well.”

http://blog.chron.com/katy/2014/08/katy-isd-meets-2014-accountability-ratings/