12:32 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 2, 2005

By Rachel Hunter / The Daily News

The 2005 state accountability ratings for public and charter schools were released Monday with a vast majority of Galveston County schools meeting the minimum standards set by the state education agency. The Galveston Independent School District was among 44 districts labeled "unacceptable" by the state.

Of the 92 public and charter schools in the county, 47 received the state’s “academically acceptable” rating. Forty-one exceeded state requirements and achieved the state’s two highest ratings — 32 were rated “recognized” and nine earned the prestigious “exemplary” rating. Four schools fell below state standards and were rated academically “unacceptable” — Alamo Elementary and San Jacinto Elementary in the Galveston school district, Hitchcock High School and High Island Elementary.

“I was disappointed in our results,” said Lynn Hale, superintendent of the Galveston school district. “My expectation is that we will make significant improvement next year.”

School ratings are based in large part on standardized test scores for students in four subpopulations — African American, Hispanic, white and economically disadvantaged. For a campus to receive an “acceptable accountability” rating, 50 percent of overall students as well as students in each subgroup must pass the reading/English language arts, writing and social studies assessment tests. The state also requires at least 35 percent to master the math and 25 percent to pass the science in order to be rated “acceptable.” Alternative assessment tests, which are administered to some special education students are also considered, along with dropout rates for seventh- and eighth-grade students and the number of students who complete high school in four years.

Barbara Wilson, the top administrator of the Hitchcock school district, said she was very pleased that Crosby Middle School was no longer rated “unacceptable,” but disappointed that the district’s high school fell below state standards in math.

“We were short of our goal in our African -American testing population,” she said. “Thirty-five percent must pass math in each subgroup and the high school had only 28 percent of its African-American students pass the test. I have every confidence that our students can master the mathematics. As professionals, it is our job to motivate students and make sure they have excellent instruction.”

For schools to be awarded the “recognized” rating, at least 70 percent of all students and student groups must pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test or show a level of improvement that indicates they will reach that benchmark in two years. The number of “recognized” schools in the county increased from 21 in 2004 to 32 in 2005. Among these 21 were in the Clear Creek school district, four were in Dickinson and three were in Santa Fe.

“Overall, I feel pretty good with the progress our teachers are making,” said Leland Williams, superintendent of the Dickinson school district. “It is encouraging to see campuses that are “recognized” that were not before. However, it is also disappointing whenever we have campuses that our doing well across the board, but we have one subgroup that keeps them from being “recognized.” I just don’t think that is right. There is something wrong with a system that keeps a school from being “recognized” because of the test scores of one subgroup.”

Williams said the public and media often misunderstand the purpose of the state accountability system. Ratings are not to be used to compare students in one district to students in another, he said, but to compare how students measure up to state educational standards.

“It is not us comparing ourselves with kids in other districts. It is us looking at how the district is doing compared with the state standard and our scores from previous years,” Williams said. “I think it is a shame that people put so much stock in one assessment instrument. We are not as concerned with how well other districts did as we are with improving what we are doing. That is where our focus is going to be and I am very pleased with the direction we are heading.”

According to information released by the Texas Education Agency, 61 districts and 354 campuses were rated “unacceptable” this year compared to 44 districts and 95 campuses in 2004. The Galveston Independent School District was among the districts labeled “unacceptable.” However, top school administrators said the rating is being appealed and state officials have assured them it will be changed to “acceptable” when final accountability ratings are released in October.

“What happened was we had five white children in grades seven and eight that were considered dropouts, and the state says you can not exceed one percent in each subgroup,” said Hale. “We were over that percent by one child, but we found out we had a student who transferred to Odyssey Academy that the state had considered a dropout. We notified the Texas Education Agency and are appealing our rating. The district will be reclassified as ‘acceptable.’”

More than 7,900 schools were assessed by the state in 2005. About 4,700 earned “academically acceptable” ratings, but only 290 schools — including five in the Clear Creek school district and four in Friendswood — received the state’s “exemplary” rating.

Suzanne Marchman, a spokesperson for the state education agency, said schools are allowed to appeal their ratings, but applications for appeals must be received by Aug. 19. Those appeals go before two review committees and recommendations are then given to the commissioner of education who makes the final decision, she said.