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MISD Accountability
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released accountability ratings on
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 for all Texas public schools and districts.
Seven McKinney ISD campuses received the highest rating of
“exemplary”, while eight MISD campuses received a “recognized”
rating. The district was given an overall rating of “academically
acceptable.” These results are based on a completely new state
accountability system that replaces a rating system used from 1994
to 2002. Districts and campuses can earn a rating of exemplary,
recognized, acceptable or low performing with the new accountability
system.
In addition to the rating system, the TEA also rates high performing
students on the TAKS test with a “Commended Performance” rating. As
a whole, McKinney ISD ranked fifth in public schools the Dallas/Fort
Worth area with the number of students achieving a commended
performance rating.
Tom Crowe, MISD superintendent, said he is confident the school
district is taking the necessary steps to ensure student success at
every level.
“While MISD moved from recognized to academically acceptable in its
rating for its scores last year, I believe it is very significant to
note the improvement that was made in almost every single area that
was tested,” he said. “The challenge that MISD and other districts
across the state faced this past year was the additional tests that
were administered with no benchmarks available for comparison. I am
completely confident that the staff and students in McKinney will do
whatever it takes to ensure the students’ success in the future.
The curriculum and instruction department has already designed
interventions to assist the campuses in addressing the areas of
identified needs.”
Under the new accountability system, 19 districts and 517 campuses
statewide earned the top rating called exemplary. The MISD campuses
that have been awarded the state’s highest rating of exemplary
include ACT Academy, C.T. Eddins Elementary, Reuben Johnson
Elementary, Arthur McNeil Elementary, Valley Creek Elementary, Earl
and Lottie Wolford Elementary and Roy Lee Walker Elementary. All
seven campuses were also exemplary in 2002.
“We are pleased that many of our campuses continued to excel even
though this rating system evaluates their performance on more
academic subjects and grades than the previous rating system,” said
Commissioner of Education Shirley J. Neeley.
To achieve this highest rating, the district or campus is required
to have a 90 percent passing rate for all students, as well as
African American, Hispanic, White and economically disadvantaged
student groups, for reading/English language arts, writing,
mathematics, social studies and science. Special education students
who took the State-Developed Alternative Assessment (SDAA) also
needed to achieve a 90 percent or higher passing rate. State law
now requires SDAA results to be used in calculating the ratings.
“These schools should proudly proclaim that they are excelling
academically and closing the achievement gap. My congratulations
to them on a job well done,” Neeley said.
The second highest rating is called recognized and 374 districts and
2,531 campuses earned this high honor. Eight MISD schools were
awarded the recognized rating. For the first time in MISD history,
all eligible middle schools earned a recognized rating. Scott
Johnson Middle School, Jack Faubion Middle School and Ruth Dowell
Middle School were awarded a recognized rating. Evans Middle School
does not yet qualify for an accountability rating due to the fact
that it opened in August of 2004.
Both Jose and Maria Vega Elementary and Dean and Mildred Bennett
Elementary earned a recognized rating. This is the first rating for
the schools, which opened in 2002.
Nell Burks Elementary and J.W. Webb Elementary also earned a
recognized rating, the same rating they earned in 2002. Glen Oaks
Elementary also earned a recognized rating. Glen Oaks met the
exemplary criteria in all areas, with the exception of science.
“As our Glen Oaks team continues our quest to increase numbers of
students who achieve commended performance in all content areas, we
are placing a strong emphasis on our science instruction at all
grade levels,” said Beth Parker, principal at Glen Oaks Elementary
School.
A recognized rating required a 70 percent passing rate on all parts
of the TAKS for all students and student groups and a 70 percent
passing rate for all special education students who took the SDAA.
The recognized rating could also be achieved through an alternate
route, which calls for a 65 percent passing rate on TAKS and SDAA
and the school or district is required to meet the Required
Improvement criteria. Required improvement is a new element in the
accountability ratings. A school or district that has a TAKS
performance ranging from 65 to 69 percent and has shown enough
improvement on TAKS since 2003 to reach the 70 percent passing level
in two years qualifies for a recognized rating.
In this initial year of the new rating system, 460 of the campuses
and 110 of the districts that received the recognized rating did so
through use of the required improvement standard. Burks Elementary
School met the recognized rating through the required improvement
criteria.
The required improvement feature cannot be used to move a campus or
district up to an exemplary rating and, for a recognized rating, can
only be used on the testing indicators. Along with the TAKS/SDAA
requirements, a recognized rating requires a high school completion
rate of 85 percent or an annual dropout rate of 0.7 percent or less
for all students and student groups in schools serving seventh and
eighth-grade students.
"A recognized rating reflects strong performance on the part of
these districts and campuses. Some who receive this rating were
rated exemplary under the previous accountability system. I’m sure
that, given time, they will rise to the challenge. A recognized
rating is something a campus or a district should be very proud to
receive,” Neeley said.
Fanny Finch Elementary, Earl Slaughter Elementary, Albert and Iola
Malvern Elementary, Gibson Caldwell Elementary, McKinney High School
and McKinney North High School earned an acceptable rating. Because
it is a new school, Gary and Bobbye Jack Minshew Elementary will not
be rated until 2005. No MISD schools were given a low-performing
rating.
Both Finch and Slaughter elementary schools were recognized in 2002.
Finch Elementary met the exemplary standard on the writing portion
of the test, and the recognized standard on the reading and math
portion of the test. However, Finch was given an acceptable rating
based on its science scores.
Slaughter Elementary met the exemplary standard in math and the
recognized standard in reading and science. The acceptable rating
was based on the writing score, which was two percentage points
lower than the percent needed for the recognized rating.
MNHS, which was an exemplary campus in 2002, has earned an
acceptable rating. MNHS met the exemplary standard on the social
studies test, and the recognized rating in language arts. They met
the acceptable standard in math and science.
The rating for MHS remained unchanged at acceptable. MHS met the
recognized status in language arts and social studies and the
acceptable status in math. Despite double-digit gains in the area of
science, MHS met the acceptable status on that section of the test.
Like many school districts across the state, McKinney ISD will
experience a change in rating for 2004. The 2004 rating for McKinney
ISD is acceptable. The 2002 rating was recognized.
“I know, however, that some schools will be disappointed with their
ratings today. I encourage members of their community to look
closely at the data behind the ratings. In most cases, these
schools and districts have not had a decline in academic
performance. The state has significantly raised the bar primarily
through its testing program, which will not be fully phased in until
the spring of 2005. If anyone has any doubt about the difficulty of
the TAKS tests, may I suggest that you take a look for yourself
online at www.tea.state.tx.us
,” Neely said.
“The new system is based on the much more rigorous Texas Assessment
of Knowledge
and Skills (TAKS) test, which replaced the TAAS test,” said Ted
Moore, MISD deputy superintendent. “While the new system includes
many more subjects tested at grades 3-11, MISD continues to post
strong scores. MISD met the criteria for the recognized rating in
reading, math, writing and social studies. The one area where MISD
met the acceptable rating was in science, which is a newly tested
area.”
Moore said that while 86 percent of MISD students met the TAKS
standard on the science test, a disaggregation of science data
reveals that MISD only met the acceptable criteria in science.
“Because a district is rated on its lowest performing area and
lowest performing student group, MISD will carry the acceptable
rating for 2004,” Moore explained. “The TEA had predicted a drop in
ratings for many school districts in the state due to the new TAKS
test and the agency is now confirming that science, as the newly
tested area, is proving to be the biggest challenge for most school
districts.”
“Our Texas schools have gone through a significant period of change.
They are adjusting to more rigorous testing and accountability
systems. They have continued to do whatever it takes to meet the
needs of all children. They will use these results to identify
strengths and weaknesses, then they will monitor and adjust their
programs as they deem appropriate,” the Commissioner Neely said.
For more information on the TAKS ratings and data tables for
individual districts and campuses, go to
www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/.
For the latest completion rate and dropout report visit:
www.tea.state.tx.us/research/dropout/0203/index.html.
For more information about the McKinney Independent School district,
go to
www.mckinneyisd.net
or contact Diana Gulotta, special assistant to the superintendent
for communications at 469-742-4095 or by e-mail at
dgulotta@mckinneyisd.net.
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