Local kids meet new standards

Clarendon ISD students exceeded the new testing targets required by the federal government, but local school trustees are still calling for the Texas Legislature to revamp the accountability system.

Only 44 percent of school campuses and 28 percent of districts in Texas met the standard, but Clarendon and Hedley both did. Scores were based on student performance on the TAKS exam, which has now been replaced by the STAAR test.

“Our kids and teachers worked extra hard and meeting the standard makes us feel good,” CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said. “But the stats ratchet up every year.”

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, school districts are required to meet certain Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets. For this year the AYP calls for an 87 percent pass rate for Reading/English language arts, and an 83 percent pass rate for math. All three CISD campuses exceeded those goals. Clarendon High School students were 95 percent in reading and 89 percent in math, Clarendon Junior High students were 94 percent in reading and 86 percent in math, and Clarendon Elementary students were 93 percent in reading and 84 percent in math.

“We’re relieved but still cautious,” Hysinger said. “If you don’t meet the AYP, there is a lot of extra work to be done and extra committees that have to be formed.”

The AYP standards increase every year until they reach a mandated 100 percent pass rate in 2014, and that is an unrealistic goal, Hysinger said.

“Basically, there is an overemphasis on testing and it has become very punitive,” Hysinger said, who noted that the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) is now trying to get 80 percent of school districts to sign on to a resolution asking the State Legislature to reexamine the accountability system.

CJH Principal John Taylor agrees that the testing system has gone overboard.

“There is too much testing,” Taylor said. “We can prepare students, but, ultimately it is still a paper and pencil test on one day and you don’t know what else that student has going on in life.”

In addition to the pressure on students and school personnel, CISD officials say the testing system takes up too much time and adds too much cost to schools. A school year has 180 days, and CISD has 40 days of testing schedule across its three campuses.

“We had to bring in ten teachers for two weeks in the summer to do remediation, and we had to hire substitutes during the year to administer the tests,” Hysinger said. “That costs us a lot of money, but imagine what it must be statewide.”

Hedley students did very well on the AYP targets. HISD is looked at by the state as one campus, and students there scored 96 percent on reading and 89 percent on math. Principal David O’Dell said that there is similar sentiment about the accountability system at his school but as of yet Hedley school trustees have not adopted the TASA resolution.