Clarendon and Hedley schools get top rating

The Clarendon and Hedley school districts both received Exemplary ratings from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) when the state released its annual school ratings last week.

The Donley County schools were part of a statewide rise in test scores as Texas public schools shattered old performance records.

Accountability ratings for public schools are based on performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), dropout, and attendance rates. The four possible rankings are Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, and Unacceptable.

According to TEA, 1,291 schools and 167 school districts earned an exemplary rating from the state last Thursday, August 17. That is the highest number of campuses and districts to earn the state’s top rating in the eight-year history of the accountability system, Commissioner of Education Jim Nelson said.

Hedley Superintendent Bryan Hill credited his school’s success to a team effort – hard working teachers and staff, students who take school and the TAAS test seriously, parents who get involved in their children’s education, and a school board and community that really supports the education of its children.

The Hedley school stepped up a rank, improving from Acceptable in 1996 to Recognized in 1997 and 1998 to Exemplary in 1999.

“We are very pleased. We’re extremely proud of how well the students did,” Hill said. “Its even more gratifying considering the state in the past years raised the standard for schools to become Exemplary.”

Hill credited Principal Terry Stevens and the teachers for identifying those students who needed the most help and then working with those students on an individual basis, many times before or after the school day.

Scores for a school of Hedley’s size are given to the entire school rather than to individual campuses. Hedley students scored 94.0 percent on math, 95.1 percent on reading, and 94.9 percent on writing. HISD had an attendance rate of 97.9 percent and a dropout rate of 2.3 percent.

Clarendon Superintendent Monty Hysinger said his district-wide scores were 95.5 percent for math, 95 percent for reading, and 98.7 percent for writing. CISD had no dropouts and had an attendance rate of 97.2 percent.

The Clarendon School District as a whole was rated as Exemplary. Clarendon High School and Clarendon Jr. High were both rated Exemplary, and Clarendon Elementary was rated as Recognized.

Elementary Principal Mike Word said his campus fell just short of the Exemplary rating because it received a score of 88.5 percent for math in one subcategory – economically disadvantaged students. Overall the elementary school did well with a 91 percent in math, 92.1 percent in reading, and 100 percent in writing. The attendance rate was 97.2 percent.

“We’ve got a great group of teachers and a great group of kids,” Word said. “I think it will get better and better this coming year. I feel real good about it.”

This was the first time for the junior high campus to be rated Exemplary.

“We’ve always been real close,” said Principal Marvin Elam, “but we never got over the hump. This time we did. We’re real proud of our scores.”

Elam credited the school’s good teachers and cited teachers and students spending extra time to achieve the high scores.

CJH students scored 100 percent in math, 96.6 percent in reading, and 95.8 percent in writing. The campus had an attendance rate of 97.6 percent.

Clarendon High School was rated Exemplary for the second year in a row.

“We’ve got great teachers and great feeder programs coming from the elementary and junior high,” Principal Larry Jeffers said.

Jeffers echoed Hedley Superintendent Bryan Hill in saying, “The tests are getting progressively more difficult.”

CHS was rated 100 percent for all three test sections and had an attendance rate of 97.4 percent.

“We raised the bar this year making it harder for schools to win an acceptable rating from the state. Despite that, a record number of districts and campuses leapt over that hurdle and reached even higher levels to obtain the state’s two highest ratings, exemplary and recognized. We are so proud of these schools and the teachers, administrators and students who made this possible. We know it took hard work and a strong commitment to excellence from the entire school community,” Nelson said.

“Overall, students performed so well this year that the state as a whole narrowly missed achieving recognized status itself. It is no wonder that our Texas public schools are attracting attention from all over the country with this kind of performance,” Nelson said.

This year, 167 districts earned an Exemplary rating, 435 earned a Recognized rating, 434 earned the academically Acceptable label, and five earned an academically Unacceptable label. In 1999 in comparison, 122 districts earned the Exemplary rating, 383 earned the Recognized rating, 523 were academically Acceptable and seven were academically Unacceptable.  

Additional ratings information can be found at TEA’s website.