WO-C statement about TAKS & Accountability Ratings

From WO-C CISD 

            West Orange – Cove CISD’s 2009 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) results reflect scores that achieve exemplary standards, as well as scores that reflect continued growth for all District student groups in numerous subject areas.

West Orange – Cove CISD District Comparison

ALL STUDENTS

            Scores that meet exemplary status are 90 percent and above.

“We’ve made huge gains and are continuing to close the achievement gap between white and African-American students. One of our major goals since 2005 has been to reduce the gap in achievement among student groups by raising the achievement of low socio-economic and minority students,” WO-C Superintendent Dr. O. Taylor Collins said.

As example, Collins said, “Today, 74 percent of African-American students district-wide met the standard on the math portion of the TAKS; while in 2005 when I became Superintendent, only 43 percent of African-American students passed math.

“Additionally today, 77 percent of African-American students in grades six through eight  met the standard on the math portion of the TAKS; while in 2005 when I became Superintendent, only 29 percent of the African-American students in grades six through eight passed math,” Collins said.

            Data for white students for the same time frames show that today, 85 percent of all students district-wide met math standards; while in 2005, district-wide only 65 percent of white students met the standard.

            Data for white students in grades six through eight show 87 percent met math standards in 2009, while 49 percent met math standards in 2005.

2009 student sub-group scores are as follows:

            West Orange – Cove CISD School Board President Pete Amy said, “I am pleased to see the gap getting smaller in our population subgroups in addition to the scores being on the rise from the preceding years.  It is apparent that the emphasis that has been made toward improving the test scores over the last several years is beginning to pay off.”

In March 2009 West Orange – Cove CISD was ranked by the Texas Educational Excellence Project, a program housed within the Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University,  as the fifth best school district in Texas for African-American Students, when analyzing 2007 data.

“We are hoping to go from fifth best in the state to the number one school in the state for African – American students, as well as for all students,” Collins said.

Additionally, the Texas Educational Excellence Project cites WO-C as tenth in the State of Texas for its ability to educate African American students during the time period of 2005-2007. 

The 2009 West Orange – Cove TAKS scores include many areas of celebration, said Collins.

Anderson Elementary maintained “Recognized” status for the second consecutive year, earning the status for the third time over the past four years.

At Oates Elementary, students increased science and reading scores in the “Economically Disadvantaged” category by five points, and also slightly increased math scores in majority of student sub-groups.

West Orange – Stark Middle School English Language Arts, writing and social studies scores are recognized in every category. WO-S Middle School science scores have increased by 11 points in the “All Student” category; and social studies scores have increased by 26 points in the “All Student” category.

Additionally, West Orange – Stark Middle School math scores have increased by six points in the “All Student” category.

West Orange – Stark High School English Language Arts and social studies scores are recognized in every category. WO-S High School science scores have increased by 11 points in the “All Student” category, science scores at the Exit Level increased 21 points, and social studies scores have increased by three points in the “All Student” category.

The Texas Education Agency will release 2009 state accountability ratings Friday.

 West Orange – Cove CISD anticipates the ratings to be as follows:

Anderson Elementary will be rated “Recognized.”

Lorena Oates Elementary will be rated “Acceptable.”

West Orange – Stark Middle School will also be rated “Acceptable,” improving upon its 2008 rating.   

            West Orange – Stark High School will receive a preliminary rating of “Unacceptable” due to the completion rates for students in the 2005-2006 school year, the year of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

            Since District ratings also reflect High School completion rates, WO-C will also receive a preliminary rating of “Unacceptable” as well.

            “This rating has nothing to do with test scores. It has to do with the tracking and coding of students as they moved from school to school in the aftermath of these two devastating hurricanes,” Collins said.

            The Texas Education Agency’s 2009 Accountability Manual addresses this factor by allowing schools negatively impacted by “dropout” status of displaced students to appeal the rating.

            West Orange – Cove CISD will appeal the rating of WO-S High School, as well as the District, immediately.

In 2007, West Orange – Cove received similar AYP ratings which also reflected completion rates of this same 2005-2006 student population. An appeal was filed and granted. The District expects these two 2009 TEA appeals to be granted as well, and the WO-S High School and District ratings to be changed to “Acceptable.”

TEA will release a ratings update in late October 2009 which will reflect filed appeals and their status.

            “It really is sad that our students’ and teachers’ achievements this year will be initially paled by a system that does not take into consideration up front the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita kids that were forced to leave the area. It feels to me like we are being penalized for the unfortunate consequences of a natural disaster, as well as for reaching out to help others,” Collins said.

Identified areas on which WO-C will focus during the 2009-2010 school year in order to continue to improve student achievement include continuing to implement a plan which vertically aligns curriculum with a data driven scope and sequence for the core areas; providing staff development to support  the vertical alignment for PK-12; implementing instructional strategies that support accelerated / differentiated instruction; and developing an accelerated instructional program in all grades, for students who are or have been retained.

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Note:

1. West Orange – Stark High School and West Orange – Cove CISD were both rated “Acceptable” in 2008.
2. All 2009 scores listed are TPM (Texas Projection Measure). The TPM is an estimate of whether a student is likely to pass the TAKS test at a future grade. The TPM scores is used to determine accountability. This is the first year for the TPM; it is based upon current performance and TAKS scores from all students who attend a campus.
3. The complete Texas Educational Excellence Project report can be viewed at http://perg.tamu.edu/AfAmFullReport.pdf
4. District Comparison 2009 vs. 2008