2 Plano ISD Schools in the (TEA) Doghouse (Weatherford, West: apartment, HOA)

[Big G]

Reporting on the bad as well as the good....

Based on the most recent round of standardized testing, 2 of PISD's elementary schools (Huffman and Memorial) now fall under the Stage 1 requirements of the TEA's School Improvement Program. This happened because 1) the schools currently receive Title I funds, based on their economic demographics, and 2) the schools failed to meet the "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) required by the state for 2 straight years.

The biggest consequence is that the district is required to allow the students at those schools the right to immediately transfer to specific other PISD schools that DID meet the AYP standards.

The LEA is required, not later than August 13, 2012, following the identification of improvement status, to provide all students enrolled in the school with the option to transfer to another public school served by the LEA.

Memorial is no surprise - that's an eastside school in a very low-income area, with a large ESL population. Truth be told, it's a testament to PISD that there weren't MORE schools from that area on the list. Huffman, which is located right next to tony Shepton HS, and which counts the residents of Old Shepard Place among its students, is much more of a shocker.

As for the details: Huffman kids are being offered the choice of Hightower or Saigling. Hightower is kitty-corner from the Huffman area to the NE, and the Saigling area is right next to Hightower to the east. So, either way, those options are within a reasonable distance of Huffman.

On the other hand, Memorial kids are given the option of Weatherford or Daffron. Weatherford is west of Independence, and Daffron is all the way over west of Coit, in the Plano West area . Neither of these are really feasible options for a school located on Park and Jupiter, well on the east side of 75.

The selection of schools offered for transfer is a bit "curious", as far as how accomodating (or not) the district is being. A skeptical person would say the richer neighborhood is getting rather preferential treatment.

[TX75007]

I agree. I heard a rumor that they put drugs in the kid's free lunches so they will stay dumbed down. No one at PISD has denied this serious allegation, either.

Or maybe the kids don't speak English and academics are not emphasized at home?

[loves2read]

I bet the culprit is "zoning" within the district so that the students who live in the catchment are being outnumbered by students who are not that close but zoned in to the school to balance classroom size...
if these are apartment kids who are known/prone for moving around and traditionally have other educational distractions to hamper their learning efficiency then they are a difficult segment of any district's demographic count

[fndmom]

Originally Posted by loves2read

I bet the culprit is "zoning" within the district so that the students who live in the catchment are being outnumbered by students who are not that close but zoned in to the school to balance classroom size...
if these are apartment kids who are known/prone for moving around and traditionally have other educational distractions to hamper their learning efficiency then they are a difficult segment of any district's demographic count

That's why Huffman shouldnt have been much of a surprise, and isnt it part of why they just rezoned out over 100 apartment kids. In my opninion they are just going to be shifting the problem to other schools. I had not yet seen the details of where students could transfer and agree that the choices are not fair to the Memorial students.

I was discouraged when I read that 23 Plano schools failed to meet AYP. These are just the 2 Title 1 that failed to meet 2 years in a row. I bet there are more schools added to the list next year since they keep raising the requirements.

[txgolfer130]

Plano ISD is on Stage 1 as a whole.

Also on the list are:

Williams, Vines, Clark, Shepton HS's.

Armstrong, Carpenter, Frankford and Otto MS's.

Jackson, Meadows, Mendenhall, Sigler, Forman, Davis, Thomas, Dooley, Mitchell, Rasor, McCall and Hickey also were on the list.

[MurphyPl1]

Honestly, I'm not sure how many of the kids at Memorial will transfer. they have a brand new school to attend, thanks to a bond construction project. And I'm not sure many of the families in that area *can* transfer to other schools due to the transportation issues that were brought up during the realignment.

As far as parents and their participation, language definitely seems to be the biggest challenge. But they have an incredibly well-attended Math Night that is the highlight of their year. And they do this with a PTA that consisted at one time of 3 parents and the teachers of the school. I think there are cultural and language issues at play, but it's my impression that the families are loyal to the school.

[Big G]

4 out of 5 of Plano's 9-10 schools ended up there - all of them because of math performance. That looks bad. But, the story I've heard is that it can be largely explained by an artifact of how STAAR works, as compared to TAKS.

With TAKS, all the kids in a given grade - smart and dumb alike - take the same math exam. With STAAR, all the kids in a given course(Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) take the same exam. That means the different "levels" of kids in a given grade are taking different exams.

Long story short, the math whiz kids only take ONE Math STARR exam at the 9-10 school - Algebra II when they're in 9th grade. That means the 9-10 schools are being judged in Geometry performance, but only AFTER their top 5-10% of students are removed from judging. As for Algebra I, only after taking away all the "normal" honor students as well, leaving pretty much the lower half (or less) of the class.

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I doubt too many will jump on the chance to execute a last-minute switch. But you never know. Heck, we had a PTA president who MOVED AWAY to RISD because she couldn't transfer her kid from Huffman to Hightower.

[DitsyD]

Originally Posted by Big G

4 out of 5 of Plano's 9-10 schools ended up there - all of them because of math performance. That looks bad. But, the story I've heard is that it can be largely explained by an artifact of how STAAR works, as compared to TAKS.

With TAKS, all the kids in a given grade - smart and dumb alike - take the same math exam. With STAAR, all the kids in a given course(Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) take the same exam. That means the different "levels" of kids in a given grade are taking different exams.

Long story short, the math whiz kids only take ONE Math STARR exam at the 9-10 school - Algebra II when they're in 9th grade. That means the 9-10 schools are being judged in Geometry performance, but only AFTER their top 5-10% of students are removed from judging. As for Algebra I, only after taking away all the "normal" honor students as well, leaving pretty much the lower half (or less) of the class.

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I doubt too many will jump on the chance to execute a last-minute switch. But you never know. Heck, we had a PTA president who MOVED AWAY to RISD because she couldn't transfer her kid from Huffman to Hightower.

Plano has six high schools (9th & 10th). 9th graders took the STAAR but 10th graders still took the TAKS.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by DitsyD

Plano has six high schools (9th & 10th). 9th graders took the STAAR but 10th graders still took the TAKS.

Yep, you're right. FWIW, McMillen wasn't ranked since 2011-2012 was their first year of existence.

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Here are the district-wide numbers for 9th graders in math for each course:

Algebra I - 1321 tested: 174 unsatisfactory, 1147 satisfactory (88 of those advanced)
Geometry - 2437 tested; 13 unsatisfactory, 2424 satisfactory (1498 advanced)
Algebra II - 173 tested; 0 unsatisfactory, 173 satisfactory (171 advanced)

You might look at that and think - why is PISD so terrible at teaching Algebra I at the high schools, yet so good at Geometry (and downright fantastic at Algebra II)?

Please understand, that's not a random distribution between the courses. The kids taking Algebra II are the smartest 5% w/r/t math, and the kids waiting until 9th grade to take Algebra I are the worst 35% in math ability. That's clearly reflected in how many of each group were able to perform at an advanced level.

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Let's look at the middle school kids taking HS STAAR tests.

8th grade results:
Algebra I: 2371 tested: 4 unsatisfactory, 2367 satisfactory (1408 advanced)
Geometry:142 tested: 0 unsatisfactory, 142 satisfactory (141 advanced)
Algebra II: 7 tested: 0 unsatisfactory, 7 satisfactory (7 advanced)

7th grade results:
Algebra I: 111 tested: 111 satisfactory (107 advanced)
Geometry: 8 tested: 8 satisfactory (8 advanced)

Wow, now that's impressive! 99.8+% of the PISD middle schoolers sitting for the HS exams can pass them - and that includes over half the 8th graders district-wide. Problem is, the feeder school gets no credit for that. Those middle school results aren't added in to the HS numbers. The "whiz kid" effect can also be seen - the 150 or so kids working way ahead are guaranteed passes, and rip off advanced results at close to a 100% rate, but those numbers never contribute to the HS stats.

In a sense, the entire high school is being judged as if the performance of the bottom third of the class is reflective of the school as a whole.

This problem isn't unique to PISD. But it's especially apparent there, due to the district's unusually high rate of kids working 1 or 2 years ahead of the standard math sequence.

As far as the TEA numbers game, the district would be better off making all the kids wait until 9th grade to take Algebra I.

[stan4]

This just came up at HOA meeting.
Huffman has a lot of kids coming in from outside the 'desirable' area.
The fear is the drop in property values because of it.
The district will now reconsider distribution of kids.