Coldspring Intermediate campus earns recognized status for second year
San Jacinto News- Times - August 2008

COLDSPRING – The Coldspring Intermediate campus, paired with Street Elementary, earned a “recognized” status by the Texas Education Agency, while other local school campuses were rated as “academically acceptable.” This was the second consecutive year that Coldspring Intermediate School earned the status. The state’s accountability system is based on Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores, school attendance and dropout rates, among other things. Campuses in the county’s two school districts earning “academically acceptable” ratings include Coldspring-Oakhurst High School, Lincoln Junior High School, Shepherd High School, Shepherd Middle School, Shepherd Primary School and Shepherd Intermediate School. Both school districts in the county – Coldspring-Oakhurst Consolidated Independent School District and Shepherd Independent School District were each rated “academically acceptable.”

There are a total of eight schools in the county’s two school districts. “Accountability ratings provide parents and community members with a standardized way to examine academic performance at their local schools. The ratings help Texans highlight successes and pinpoint areas that need improvement,” said Robert Scott, commissioner of education. Ratings are based on student performance on state tests, dropout rates and high school completion rates.

However, a school leaver provision remains in place for 2008. Under this provision, the seventh and eighthgrade dropout data and the high school completion data are reported but the leaver indicators cannot cause a lowered campus or district rating. The school leaver provision was kept in place for a second year to give schools time to adjust to signifi cant changes in the methods by which dropout rates are calculated. This year 43 school districts throughout Texas and 996 schools earned Exemplary ratings. In 2007, 27 districts and 643 schools received the top rating. An Exemplary rating means all student groups on the campus or in the district had a 90 percent or higher passing rate on all subject areas of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The TAKS is given to students in grades 3-11 and covers English language arts/reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies.

The subjects tested vary at each grade level. The state evaluates test results for the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, white, economically disadvantaged and total student body. The state’s second highest rating, Recognized, was earned by 328 districts, which represents 26.7 percent of the districts in the state. This year 34.4 percent or 2,815 schools earned this rating. In 2007, 217 districts and 2,354 schools were rated Recognized. A passing rate of 75 percent for all student groups evaluated on all TAKS exams is required to earn this rating. A district or campus can also meet the Recognized level by achieving passing rates on the TAKS of 70 to 74 percent and by showing enough improvement on the TAKS since 2007 to reach a 75 percent passing rate in two years. They must also obtain a high school completion rate of 85 percent, or have a completion rate of 75 to 84 percent and meet the Required Improvement standard. An annual dropout rate that is no greater than 2.0 percent, or meets Required Improvement which shows that the rate is declining enough each year to be at 2.0 percent within two years must also be obtained. The school leaver provision was used by 13 districts and eight campuses.

This year, 818 or 66.6 percent of the districts and 3,509 or 43 percent of the campuses received an Academically Acceptable rating. That is a decrease over 2007 levels because more schools and districts have moved into the higher rating categories. Last year, 920 districts and 4,108 campuses were rated Academically Acceptable. To earn this rating, a school or district must meet the following testing standards: • A 70 percent or higher passing rate on the English language arts or reading TAKS; • A 65 percent or higher passing rate on the writing and social studies TAKS; • A 50 percent or higher passing rate on the mathematics TAKS; • A 45 percent or higher passing rate on the science TAKS; • Or meets Required Improvement provisions. They must also obtain a completion rate of at least 75 percent or meet Required Improvement or have an annual dropout rate of no more than 2 percent or meet Required Improvement provisions. Use of the school leaver provision allowed 133 schools and 76 districts to maintain an Academically Acceptable rating this year. The state’s lowest rating was given to 37 districts and 217 campuses. This represents a drop in the number of those earning an Academically Unacceptable rating.