Comparing Katy ISD to Similar Texas School Districts:

One of the things parents want to know is "How does the school my child attends, rate compared to other schools?"  Or the bigger question is, "How does Katy ISD rate compared to other school districts?"

The problem that arises with comparisons is "Who are the other schools to which my school or district is being compared?"

The Texas Education Agency and the administrators whose jobs hang on this question make certain that parents and taxpayers never know the real answer to those questions.

In comparing STAAR testing results, Katy ISD will often be compared with other surrounding districts or those in the Harris County. 

That comparison is meaningless.  Unless the comparison is made among schools with similar demographics and test scores, no viable comparison exists.

When I was on the school board in the 1990's, Katy ISD was compared to Cy Fair, Ft. Bend, and Spring Branch.  Those districts had mostly DISsimilar demographics, and so while Katy ISD was made to look far superior (thus being a place where all the mindless people who don't check facts wanted to move), they were not superior at all.  In fact they were just average.

As a school board member, I thought it was my duty to ascertain the continuing accurate status of Katy ISD. 

So I put forward this proposal to the rest of the Board and the Superintendent:

RE:  BU (Legal)

I would like to ask that an Administrative Regulation be developed that, in accordance with Board Policy BU (LEGAL) sets forth a time line for distribution of the AEIS Report, distribution of each schools' report card (SRC) as quickly as possible (the policy says six weeks, but it should be sooner than that), and provides an indication of the method used for distribution.  I would prefer mailing the SRC with the nearest distributed report card.  [It is also of note that Katy ISD often speeds up or delays the AEIS SRC if there is an election at hand which might be affected by the AEIS SRC reports!  I've seen them hold it for months over the years or issue it sooner than usual. The date for release of the information needed to be set in concrete. MM]

Under the heading "District Planning and Reports" #9 which states, "other information the Board considers useful," I would like for our district to include a comparison of Katy ISD with the following other Texas school districts:  Plano, Klein, Lewisville, Clear Creek, Round Rock, Humble, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Grapevine, Colleyville, Allen, Eanes, Midway, and Coppell.  I have selected these districts because they are within the 5,000 to 35,000 student range [as was Katy ISD at the time], they are within 10 percentage points of KISD with regard to White, African American, and Hispanic populations, within 8 percentage points on the economically disadvantaged scale and should provide a more realistic comparison group than the one that TEA chooses for us.  The categories reported should include, number of students, ethnic percentages, economically disadvantaged percentages, TAAS percentage passing overall, as well as in reading, in writing, and in math.  The SRC should also show ethnic TAAS scores overall for each ethnic group, SAT, ACT Mean scores, percentage at Criterion, percentage TESTED for ACT, SAT, and the percentage of teachers with advanced degrees.  I believe that parents should have this information if they are to receive a true picture of their child's school.

While I tried my best to get this stipulation enacted, the rest of the Board would not go along with the idea.  Obviously, to point out to the taxpayers that KISD is less than wonderful is bad politics and doesn't sell houses for all the developers who have their hands in KISD's pockets!

Here is part of the chart that I submitted with the comparison with similar school districts:

School District           #Students   %White   %AfrAm    %Hisp   Eco Dis%    TAAS%PASS  SATMEAN   ACTMEAN  TEACHADV DEGREE

 Texas                        3,601,839       48            14           36          45.1            55.6                  884               20.1             28.1

 Plano                             34,956        81             5             6            8.7            80.1                1,009              22.9              57   

 Klein                              28,057        72           10           11          11.9            75.8                   925              21.8              32

 Lewisville                      24,804        85             5             7           10.2           70.4                   967              20.9               31       

 Clear Creek                  24,496        76             6           10           10.1           73.6                   958              22.1               36

  Round Rock                 22,887        77             6           14           15             73.2                   972              22.5                27    

 Katy                              22,537        81             5           11          10.7            77.4                    944              22                  27

 Humble                         21,306        83             7             8          11.4            75.5                    940             21.9                31

 HurstEulessBedford     18,988        84             5             8           19              69.8                    951             21.9                34

 GrapevineColleyvle      10,878        90            2              5            7.4            73.1                    952             21.9                38

  Allen                              6,316        89            4              5            6               75.2                    955             22.2                29

  Eanes                           6,268        91            0              4            2.7             87                    1,049             22.8                34

  Midway                         5,419        86            5              7            7               77.5                     960             22.8                33 

    Coppell                       4,968        83            3              6            3.5            80.8                     925             21.5                36