Elementary gets top TAKS rating

The state’s accountability system has once again rated the Clarendon Independent School District as Academically Acceptable this year.

Clarendon Elementary was rated Exemplary, up from Recognized from the previous five years. Clarendon Junior High went up from Academically Acceptable to Recognized. Clarendon High School maintained its level as Academically Acceptable for the third year in a row.
The ratings are partly based on Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills (TAKS) scores.

“I thought we were going to be recognized for sure, but when they put our scores in the new state measures, it jumped us up to Exemplary,” Clarendon Elementary Principal Mike Word said. “We’re really proud of our scores, and we’re going to try our hardest to keep the levels going up.”

On the TAKS test across the district, Clarendon had 97 percent of students pass the reading/English language arts portion of the test, the same as last year; 98 percent in writing, up from 95 percent from the previous two years; 90 percent in social studies, down from 92 percent last year; 77 percent in math, down from 82 percent from the past two years; and 85 percent in science, up from 81 percent.

“We have some exceptional scores on all three campuses, but we recognize that we have to continue to improve our math scores,” CISD Counselor John Taylor said. “We look forward to implementing several new initiatives to improve those math scores.”

Clarendon Junior High Principal Marvin Elam also believes that it is imperative math scores be raised.
“We’re still going to have to concentrate on math. The math TAKS test is much more difficult than any other test, but it’s just something that we’ll have to continue working on.” Elam said.

Results of each test section is examined by the state based on the school’s performance as a whole and is based on results of different population categories, such as African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

For each subpopulation, test scores must be at or above 75 percent to achieve TEA’s Recognized status. As a district, CISD fell short of that score in two subpopulation groups in mathematics.

Standards for the TAKS continue to get to get higher and the tests themselves keep getting tougher each year.
“I think the TAKS test has progressively gotten harder,” CHS Principal Larry Jeffers said. “Our teachers and students have worked very hard to keep up with those challenges, and we will continue to try to improve our scores with teacher training.”

CISD TAKS results for each campus are as follows: Clarendon Elementary – reading 97 percent, writing 97 percent, mathematics 86 percent, science 94 percent; Clarendon Junior High – reading/English language arts 98 percent, writing 99 percent, social studies 88 percent, mathematics 80 percent, science 93 percent; Clarendon High School – reading/English language arts 95 percent, social studies 90 percent, mathematics 66 percent, and science 77 percent.

Hedley Independent School District was rated Recognized for the second year in a row.

Student’s TAKS scores across Hedley’s district are as follows: 95 percent in reading/ English language arts, up from 94 percent last year, 100 percent in writing, up from 99 percent the previous two years, 83 percent in social studies, down from 91 percent last year, 78 percent in mathematics, down from 83 percent, and 74 percent in science, down from 75 percent last year.