2008 TAKS scores, 30 districts, ranked by score and ranked by low income percentage (Dallas: home, school districts)

[Acntx]

Is it just me or do some of the low-income percentages seem deceptively high? I know they base the figure on the number of students receiving free/reduced lunch, but is that really a good measure of poverty? I have only been out of school a few years now and still remember a number of students whose parents would lie on the form sent out at the beginning of each year so that they would be eligible for the program. Since there were basically no further checks to determine a family's eligibility after the form was returned, people continued to abuse the program. There were kids on free lunch that lived in some of the nicest and priciest homes, always wore expensive clothing, and had both parents working and earning a decent living.

Take Lancaster ISD for example. Living here, I don't understand how 76% of the district's students are considered low-income or that the percentage increased 11% (65% in 2007) in only one year. There are a few apartment complexes in the city, but the majority of them are not low-income. One of Lancaster's poorest neighborhoods is not even part of Lancaster ISD, but is served by Dallas ISD. With all the new subdivisions that have been built recently with homes starting at 120k and higher coupled with the lack of large private or charter schools in the area, most middle-class families send their children to LISD schools. A number of these students are probably receiving free/reduced lunch and being incorrectly classified as low-income when they aren't. Then those students are lumped together under the "economically disadvantaged" subgroup for TAKS testing purposes, and that group is usually the one that adversely affects a school's overall rating.

More needs to be done to ensure that only children from truly needy families receive free/reduced lunch and that the total number of low-income students is accurate.

[loves2read]

Lakewooder--you are accurate in that sub-groups have a big impact on a schools overall rankings but a school must have a certain number/% of an ethnic group before it actually counts as sub groups when doing TAKS statistics

at one point in time Carroll HS had so few AA that technically there WAS no sub-group in that category--their Asian subgroup was larger than their AA
and even if there were enough--the high income density would pretty much guarantee there would be no failures--ethnicity or not
Conversely I know of a jr hs in MY district that for years has so few economically disadvantaged students that no one really did anything specifically tailored to help them improve their grades since they did not compse a sub-group--they could fail TAKS but the school did not care since it only affected the students--not the schools' TAKS rankings--did I agree with that -- NO!!! but there was little I could do about it--as teachers at the hs those students came to, we KNEW what was happening--added to the other students in that low-economic sub group we got from other middle schools === WE did have enough to make an impact on our schools TAKS ratings--and since we need to get them up to gradelevel to pass and graduate we had to work a lot harder to overcome the neglect from the jr high years...
Demographics in HEB have changed over the past 20 years--we now have significant # of low-income and ethnic sub groups--and that particular school has started doing a better job of educating ALL its students after a long-term principal left several years ago--

the elementary school zoned for my area suffered significantly when ONE family started attending--children definitely had problems learning--they were an ethnic subgroup and low income--three brothers -- all three failed TAKS continually and struggled to pass their grades--the parents would not agree to have them tested for learning disabilities (and the school was not too aggressive in persuing because they tried to lay it off on ESL problems which the boys would get over when they acquired more English--but one of the boys still could not learn the alphabet after two years in kindergarten...)

the school dropped from Recognized to Acceptable two years in a row because of their scores--it was only because of the break in TAKS years when some grades aren't tested, that scores went up...

when it comes to education/standardized scores MONEY is more of an overriding predictor of academic success than ethnicity IMO--match up being white and poor vs being Asian/AA/Hispanic and wealthy--guess which group scores better
the larger the income at home, the better students do on test scores--standardized or not--
The ethnic mix is important but it is per capita income that swings more weight from what I have seen

and I really can't believe that HEB has less than 12% of ESL students--that just does not seem to correlate with what I know we do with ESL in classromm--that only counts % of students in their first two years of ESL eligibility maybe?

[loves2read]

ACNTX--I think that in high school the % of free-lunch students is probably lower than possible limit--I know in my hs--which had a large # of low income students--hs students are reluctant to actually turn in the paperwork to receive low-income certification for free lunch--they see that as something that markes them very negatively in front of their peers
I think that there is way for district to compare with income tax records because of SSN and frankly in the years that I have taughter I have never seen a child in HS report himself/herself as low-income just to get a free lunch in the cafeteria--most of them don't want to eat there anyway

if you look at the % of middle school free lunch students by grade level and see how many show up when they get to hs--there is a drop in the numbers--
I don't think most of those parents started better jobs or won the lottery and raised income--
I think the kids just don't want to be stigmatized...

regarding Lancaster we have friends who grew up there and live in Tyler--his mother still lives in his family home and so does her sister--both of them say that Lancaster is really going downhill--that where his mother and her sister live has basically gone "black" and the town is falling apart
and that it is not where they would want either relative to be living--but his mother won't relocate and her sister won't either--
the picture they paint is diametrically opposed to yours
are you sure you are considering ALL of Lancaster...

[southern living]

TAKS testing has been important in providing a means for rating schools.however it has had some negative consequences on how instruction is delivered in texas schools. for example, until they started testing science, hardly any science was taught in elementary schools. currently, little to no social studies is taught at the elementary level because it is not tested until middle school. In 3rd grade for example, most of the instruction time is spent on reading and math, this is especially true in the spring. there is just no incentive for the teachers to cover the subjects that are not tested.

In addition, the dallas morning news uncovered rampant cheating on the test. the TEA has pretty much swept this under the rug and moved on

[Lakewooder]

Aren't there also subgroups for NCLB and AYP? Also is "low income" an overlapping subgroup in itself?

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by loves2read

regarding Lancaster we have friends who grew up there and live in Tyler--his mother still lives in his family home and so does her sister--both of them say that Lancaster is really going downhill--that where his mother and her sister live has basically gone "black" and the town is falling apart
and that it is not where they would want either relative to be living--but his mother won't relocate and her sister won't either--
the picture they paint is diametrically opposed to yours
are you sure you are considering ALL of Lancaster...

Loves2read--Lancaster is not falling apart or going downhill. I lived here briefly as child in the late 1980s before moving to DeSoto and then back to Lancaster again in 2006. During the 1990s, it did seem that the city was in decline. There was little or no economic growth and few people moved here. Add to that a local government that chose to bicker while neighboring communities grew, slow recovery from the 1994 tornado, and rapidly changing demographics and you see why Lancaster's reputation wasn't so good. A lot of the older residents, who can remember when Lancaster was basically a rural, non-diverse town, saw these changes as negative and a sign of decline.

The demographic shift was significant during that period. Whites were 65% of the total population in 1990 while Blacks made up 30%. By 2000, the percentage of Blacks rose to 53% while Whites fell to 37%. The situation has stabilized recently, so even though Lancaster may have "gone Black," that majority is only around 55%-60%. While White residents make up a slightly smaller percentage than they did in 2000, their population has remained about the same. The number of people with other ethnic backgrounds is also growing, making for a relatively diverse community. Many of the newcomers have incomes higher than those who moved out, so the city has remained mostly middle-class.

The population has grown approximately 38% since 2000 from 25,894 to 35,800. It is one of Dallas County's fastest growing communities. Home builders who had shunned the area before have come in and built the same types of housing that can be found throughout the Metroplex. Commercial development has rapidly occurred as well in conjunction with the Dallas Logistics Hub project. Keep in mind that the city is still around 60% undeveloped, a rarity among "inner-ring" Dallas suburbs.

While the situation has improved overall, there are still challenges. The biggest is probably the school system. The elementary schools are doing okay, but the secondary campuses have had an image problem. My younger brother is going to be a junior at the High School in August. When he enrolled into the district last year, I'll admit was a bit apprehensive about him going there, but it is no where near as bad as some would have you think. Regardless of the test scores and ratings, the bottom line is that if have a student who is motivated and wants to learn, you can be successful in Lancaster or anywhere else.

In my neighborhood, there is a mix of single-family homes and duplexes that were mostly built in the mid-to-late 1980s. The homes are well kept and the people take pride in what they have. This is evident in most of the neighborhoods throughout the city. Are there areas in Lancaster that I would not live in? Of course, but isn't that true of most cities. Lancaster is not perfect, but I find it to be a nice place to call home.

[billdfw]

TAKS is not a good indicator of school quality. One has to be mentally disabled not to pass it (or is not doing anything in school, in which case they would be failing anyways).

[ROLROC]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Although actually Coppell High was ranked 'academically unacceptable' a year or two ago and appealed.

I would not put too much stock in these scores. Besides low-income there are scores by different ethnic groups, ESL/LEP and Special Education. All groups have to have a certain pass percentage or the whole school is sullied by an often-undeserved ranking.

I'm not sure what your trying to suggest here. It seems you are suggesting that even though Coppell is high on this particular list, that in actuality it is not that good because it was supposedly rated unacceptable.

[loves2read]

ROLROC--I think the poster meant that it was more a fluke that Coppell HS was ranked unacceptable--that it was one of the glitches that TAKS can create that clouds the true quality of a school and its teaching

ACNTX--I have never even been to Lancaster--you can defend your town--but my friends who are 55-60 ages do there every few weeks to check up on his mother--I was giving their point of view and frankly--even though I don't believe that TAKS ranking is the make or break deciding factor in how good a school or ISD is--to have a score a score that low means that is little going right in that district---
I don't think Wilmer Hutchens was much lower and it was taken over by TEA not because of its educational weakness but the economic failure of the board/district--but when NCLB really kicks in Lancaster is going to lose a LOT of funding--both Federal and state because it does not look like there is any improvement going on there ...

[southern living]

Originally Posted by billdfw

TAKS is not a good indicator of school quality. One has to be mentally disabled not to pass it (or is not doing anything in school, in which case they would be failing anyways).

the best way to look at the scores and compare schools is by the percentage of students who make the "commended" level of performance, not just pass/fail percentage