[EDUCATION]
Bay Area school districts get an A or Exemplary rating By Mary Alys Cherry
T
he TEA report card is in, and Clear Creek ISD and its 42,000 students earned an A or Exemplary rating from the Texas Education Agency. So did Friendswood ISD and Pearland ISD, meaning this is certainly a good area for families with kids. But first, Clear Creek ISD. Actually, the school district received three grades – A or 91 for student achievement, B or 84 for school progress, and an A or 95 for closing the gap – and an overall rating of A or 92. So, where is this district doing exceptionally well? “Districts,” the TEA says, “earn an A (90–100) for exemplary performance when they serve most students well, encouraging high academic achievement and/ or appropriate academic growth for almost all students. Most students will be prepared for eventual success in college, a career, or the military.” The grade a district receives is based 40% on its STAAR performance, 40% on college, career and military readiness and 20% on its graduation rate, the education agency said. CCISD’s four-year graduation rate is
97.1% and rises to 98.5 after five years and 98.7 after six years with a 0.5% dropout rate. How did students do academically? Most schools scored in the 80s with some scoring in the 70s and others in the 90s. Clear Horizons Early College High School, where students are probably most focused on school work, scored a 98. But Clear Springs High was not far behind with a 95, along with Clear Falls High with a 92, Clear Lake High with a 91, Clear Creek with a 90 and Clear Brook, 87. Highest scoring intermediate schools were Seabrook with a 94, and Westbrook and Victory Lakes, 91. At the elementary level, Gilmore took top honors with a 94, followed at 91 by
CCISD trustees approve safety recommendations
will both be officers and counselors, as well as wanting to explore adding more staff to address the social and emotional needs of children.”
By Mary Alys Cherry
Trustee Chris Reed, who has a background in law enforcement and is Kemah’s police chief, has met with the metal detector advocacy group. He told us his “biggest issue with metal detectors is they create an illusion of safety, but have a 70 percent failure rate. This is with the best equipment and trained personnel,” he explained. Perhaps just as important, “the average time to clear a person through metal detectors according to studies, is 2 minutes.” While most CCISD high schools have several doors, they also have in excess of 2,000 students. Clear Lake High, for example, has 2,500. “Trying to schedule arrival times to avoid crowds would be logistically difficult. “And, if a crowd of school children are waiting to get in, this creates another danger – giving the shooter easy targets,” Reed continued.
T
he Clear Creek ISD trustees, with the Santa Fe school shooting fresh in their minds, have unanimously approved a set of recommendations outlined by the District’s School Safety Committee, which they hope will make schools safer. The recommendations, approved at their July 23 meeting, address facilities, security personnel, student mental wellness, security training and protocols, policies and procedures, and communications in an effort to improve overall safety for students and staff. However, some parents said the committee did not go far enough. They felt the schools should have metal detectors. A few wanted to arm teachers. But “the real way to prevent school violence is through people, prevention and communication,” Board President Page Rander said. “The committee was bold in pushing forward their recommendation in supporting 30 additional full-time employees whom
70% FAILURE RATE
Ralph Parr and Falcon Pass with a 90. Friendswood ISD did even better than Clear Creek, scoring three A’s – 94 on student achievement, 91 on school progress and 96 on closing gaps, for an overall 94. And, all its six schools scored A’s and in the 90s with a 93 for Friendswood High, 96 for Cline Elementary and Windsong Intermediate, 94 for Westwood and Bales Intermediate and 93 for Friendswood Junior High. Pearland ISD also scored high with an A, B and A for scoring 92 on achievement, 89 on progress and 99 on closing the gap. Dawson High with a 92 and Turner Career High with a 93 both scored A’s while Pearland High had a B or 88 and Pace Center High had a 93. Highest scoring middle schools were Pearland Junior High East; Miller and Alexander with a 94 and Pearland Junior High West, 93. High scoring elementary campuses included Rusty Oaks, 94; Shadycrest and Silvercrest, 91; and Magnolia, 90. Ratings for a number of school districts, including Pasadena, Dickinson, Alvin and Galveston, were delayed because of Hurricane Harvey.
After meeting for several weeks throughout June and July, the committee reviewed current safety measures and developed a list of recommendations for board approval. Prior to making a final recommendation to the school board, the committee considered community feedback during a public meeting on July 16. Accordingly, several updates to the District’s dress code policy will go into effect for the 2018-2019 school year. The following dress code updates reflect the committee’s final recommendations related to prevention through policy: • During normal school hours, secondary students shall be required to wear identification badges (ID’s). • Inappropriate shoes includes, but is not limited to, shower shoes, house slippers and “heelies” (roller shoes). • Any head coverings (including but not limited to hats, caps and hoodies) are not allowed on campus during school hours. • Trench coats or oversized jackets are not allowed on campus during school hours. For more information about campusspecific dress code policies, visit your campus website.
CCISD urges Legislature to change rating system Despite its high ratings, the CCISD Board of Trustees and Superintendent Dr. Greg Smith are calling on the Legislature to follow CCISD’s lead and create a comprehensive community-based accountability system that measures learning beyond the STAAR test. For the past four years, CCISD has been issuing a Community-based Accountability Report that measures the district’s performance in areas the public has determined to be characteristics of a quality public education system. “We asked, ‘What would you grade us on?’ and they told us: the quality of the teaching staff, the strength of curriculum and courses offered, the level of student engagement in the arts and athletics, high performance on college entrance exams and career readiness,” Smith said. “STAAR scores were ranked last on the list, which is why we will utilize the data, regardless of the high grade by the Texas Education Agency, as just a part of our overall portrait of performance.” School boards across Texas caution that the letters are more of a reflection of the socio-economics of the community than they are a true metric of how well students are learning and growing, he added. “Our board feels strongly that the A-F rating system further stigmatizes a community, shames students based on their zip code, and fails to honor the work of educators in hardto- teach areas of our state,” said, CCISD Board President Page Rander. “Texas can do better by its communities.”
SEPTEMBER 2018 | Bay Area Houston Magazine
11