2011 TEA School Rankings Released (Austin: cabin, activities, education)

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by XLadylawX

A closer look at the ratings of the Cedar Ridge HS indicate a clear mistake in the overall rating. Since the limited number of students left a lot of blanks, I suspect it read those blanks as "Unacceptable.". Of the resiults listed most but 2 were either Exemplary, or Recognised with only two categories listed as unacceptable. There is no way that would accurately result in a truly "academically unacceptable" school. Someone should contact them for further information.

The school district has the opportunity to contest/explain such situations. The school ranking in this case may change -- check back in October.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Mrs.JT

Yes, ratings do fluctuate every year. I realize that. But "academically unacceptable" is what caught me off guard. Cedar Ridge was a first year school with limited enrollment, so we have yet to see what its future holds. I'm fairly certain that ratings will improve. Afterall, two of the three elementary schools that feed into Cedar Ridge are rated exemplary.

Schools have been focusing on TAKS performance for years, and I've spoken with many teachers who complain about the pressure they undergo to drill TAKS test prep into their students while the fundamentals fall by the wayside.

Was the Greenridge area rezoned? Is it no longer zoned to Highland Park and Park Crest? Murchison and Kelly Lane are pretty decent schools, so that would be good thing. I have a coworker who lives in Greenridge, and she mentioned the possibility of sections of Greenridge rezoning to Cedar Ridge.

Have you taken a look at the TAKS test? At every level it is extremely easy and does test what I would consider to be the fundamentals. If students arent passing the taks then they arent learning the fundamentals.

Where I suspect the issue is, is that if 90% of the students could easily pass the Taks but a class has 10% that cannot, the teacher is forced to keep focusing on the minimal criteria of the test rather than moving on to more complex concepts. The teachers are forced to do this because every child matters according to the way the tests are scored. Before there was testing, teachers could just ignore the poorly performing students because there were no measures.

[neddy]

Since next year its the STAR test (something close to that name I think) are they going to do school ratings the same as this year or will it be different yet again?

[centralaustinite]

the statesman had a story about this today, these rankings will stay in place for two years while they implement STAR.

School, district ratings drop; Austin ISD has 8 underperforming schools, Round Rock has 2

[h886]

Originally Posted by XLadylawX

A closer look at the ratings of the Cedar Ridge HS indicate a clear mistake in the overall rating. Since the limited number of students left a lot of blanks, I suspect it read those blanks as "Unacceptable.". Of the resiults listed most but 2 were either Exemplary, or Recognised with only two categories listed as unacceptable. There is no way that would accurately result in a truly "academically unacceptable" school. Someone should contact them for further information.

The Statesman article today specified this about Cedar Ridge HS:

"Cedar Ridge High School, which opened in August with freshmen and sophomores only, missed the mark in two categories: 52 percent of African American students and 58 percent of economically disadvantaged students passed the math TAKS. The state standard is for at least 65 percent to pass."

School, district ratings drop; Austin ISD has 8 underperforming schools, Round Rock has 2

[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Have you taken a look at the TAKS test? At every level it is extremely easy and does test what I would consider to be the fundamentals. If students arent passing the taks then they arent learning the fundamentals.

Where I suspect the issue is, is that if 90% of the students could easily pass the Taks but a class has 10% that cannot, the teacher is forced to keep focusing on the minimal criteria of the test rather than moving on to more complex concepts. The teachers are forced to do this because every child matters according to the way the tests are scored. Before there was testing, teachers could just ignore the poorly performing students because there were no measures.

I have a child in high school, so yes, I have looked at the TAKS test ever since it was implemented. What appears easy for you might not necessarily be easy for a student. I know several people who have children who make good grades on report cards, but have to retake the TAKS test from failing the first time. It might be an individual thing and not necessarily a flaw with the test, but as I mentioned previously, I've spoken with teachers who despise (what they call) the TAKS based curriculum.

My stepson brings home math homework that looks like nothing but drills on sheets of paper. They don't even get homework out of the book. When I was in school, we worked through each chapter in our math books, and we were assigned odd numbered problems as homework. There were plenty of examples in the book for reference if we got hung up on problems. I excelled in math. But life is dynamic, times change, and I guess I'm just getting old.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by Mrs.JT

I have a child in high school, so yes, I have looked at the TAKS test ever since it was implemented. What appears easy for you might not necessarily be easy for a student. I know several people who have children who make good grades on report cards, but have to retake the TAKS test from failing the first time. It might be an individual thing and not necessarily a flaw with the test, but as I mentioned previously, I've spoken with teachers who despise (what they call) the TAKS based curriculum.

My stepson brings home math homework that looks like nothing but drills on sheets of paper. They don't even get homework out of the book. When I was in school, we worked through each chapter in our math books, and we were assigned odd numbered problems as homework. There were plenty of examples in the book for reference if we got hung up on problems. I excelled in math. But life is dynamic, times change, and I guess I'm just getting old.

I remember hands-on social studies projects in the 1980s when my older children were in elementary school. It gave them a chance to demonstrate learning, creatively. There is a 14 year age difference between my oldest and youngest, and when the youngest went through elementary school in the late 90s, the projects were gone. There were the standard travel brochures, etc. that are on the TEKS objectives, but nothing as in-depth and cross-curricular as my older children were required to do. The teachers were the same, but things were different. One of the fifth grade teachers lamented that they couldn't do project-based learning quite as much in the current testing environment. Testing was done back then, of course, but it wasn't the same as it became in the years to come, with attention-grabbing headlines and scores that can mislead/misrepresent.

[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by capcat

I remember hands-on social studies projects in the 1980s when my older children were in elementary school. It gave them a chance to demonstrate learning, creatively. There is a 14 year age difference between my oldest and youngest, and when the youngest went through elementary school in the late 90s, the projects were gone. There were the standard travel brochures, etc. that are on the TEKS objectives, but nothing as in-depth and cross-curricular as my older children were required to do. The teachers were the same, but things were different. One of the fifth grade teachers lamented that they couldn't do project-based learning quite as much in the current testing environment. Testing was done back then, of course, but it wasn't the same as it became in the years to come, with attention-grabbing headlines and scores that can mislead/misrepresent.

Oh my goodness. YES. Thank you for that. I feel a bit saddened and dismayed with the current situation in education. I, too, remember many fun, hands-on projects which were actually very rewarding. I enjoyed them and learned a lot along the way. I don't see that anymore. It's crazy.

[hoffdano]

The TEA ratings are not solely based on TAKS results. At least for high schools, dropout rate is also a factor.

I'm sorry, but the TAKS test is not difficult to pass. If a child gets good grades, but struggles with the TAKS, I think the problem is that their classroom work is too easy.

[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I'm sorry, but the TAKS test is not difficult to pass. If a child gets good grades, but struggles with the TAKS, I think the problem is that their classroom work is too easy.

And that is not the students' problem. Everything must correlate.