The Texas Education Agency released the 2014 Accountability Ratings for school districts last week and I posted the summaries for area districts.
Athens Met Standard as a district and had two of its campuses earn academic distinctions.
“Earning a distinction is not easy,” said TEA Commissioner Michael Williams. “Any school earning one or more distinctions should be recognized in its community for the outstanding work taking place on that campus.”
In a press release from the school district, Superintendent Blake Stiles said, “This is excellent news. It means on a district level we are hitting performance targets established by the state. It reflects the efforts of our teachers and campus leadership to do all we can to educate every one of our students to the best of our ability.”
The Middle School, however, earned an Improvement Required rating, failing to meet the standard in the Closing Performance Gaps category.
“There was a new element added to the method for gaging how well a campus or district closes the performance gaps between minority and non-minority or economically disadvantaged and wealthier students,” explained Stiles. “The target score for that particular performance index was set at 27. We missed the mark by a single point. In every other measure on that campus, we exceed the target goal. Of course, we would have liked to have hit every mark, and that is always our goal. But it’s certainly worth noting how close the campus came to doing just that.”
Ratings for each campus of the district include:
- High School – Met Standard with two academic distinctions (Mathematics, Postsecondary readiness).
- Middle School – Improvement Required.
- South Athens Elementary – Met Standard with four academic distinctions (Mathematics, Student Progress, Closing Performance Gaps, Postsecondary Readiness).
- Intermediate – Met Standard with no distinctions.
- Bel Air Elementary – Met Standard with no distinctions.
The highlight of the Athens ISD Accountability report is South Athens Elementary with four academic distinctions.
“There’s definitely an excitement on campus,” said South Athens Elementary Principal Kelye Garcie in the press release. “It’s an amazing thing to see the dedication of our teachers, day after day, working hard, and the students just did so well. We’re going to celebrate for a minute, and then get right back to work.”
The High School also received distinctions.
Athens High School Principal Jami Ivey said they are very pleased to see the hard work of their teachers and students honored. “We also recognize we still have some gains to make. So we’re going to focus on that,” she said, “and celebrate the victories as they come. We’re proud of our students and teachers.”
In reference to one of Mr.Styles statements about the “New Element” I have one question . If the scoring is based on ‘closing’ the performance gap between minority and non minority students is the A.I.S.D. focused on bringing the minority up or taking the non minority Down ? It gives no reference as to progress or advancement ,only closing the gap .I know it is not pleasant when one can see thru the P.C. gibberish and de-code it , but it is what it is .