HUFFMAN The Huffman ISD staff and administration is all smiles this week after getting some good news from the Texas Education Agency last week.
The school district was ranked Recognized by the TEA based on this past years TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) tests.
Ben Bowen and Copeland were ranked Exemplary, the highest ranking the state awards. The intermediate school was ranked Recognized while the high school and middles school campuses were found Academically Acceptable.
To be exemplary a campus must have 90% passage rate for students overall as well as in each of the four subgroups: African American, Hispanic, White and Economically Disadvantaged. Depending on the grade level, students are tested in the areas of reading, writing, math, social science and science. Campuses ranked Recognized have passed the 70% level.
At Bowen and Copeland, which were grouped together for reporting purposes, students had a 96% passage rate in reading and math.
These were the highest scores in Region IV, which contains districts across the greater Houston area and surrounding counties.
Jean Islay, executive director of curriculum and special programs, said that they are pleased with the direction the district is moving and that she credited the staff for the progress students made. We have some wonderful teachers who are very focused on what the students need and we have some good leadership in the administration.
The high school show mixed results. The passage rate of Economically Disadvantaged students was up 23% from last year. However, there was a 19% drop in African American math. Islay attributed these large movements to the number of students taking the test. This year there were 16 African American students who took the math test. With so few students in the pool, she said, each student represents a larger percentage than if there were 100 students taking the test as in some districts.
Islay attributed the advances at the lower grades to programs which start at the Pre-K level. By using a balanced literacy program early, she said, students get a good foundation.
CROSBY
As a district Crosby ISD was ranked Acceptable. A campus by campus comparison shows higher passage rates at the lower grade levels with Newport, Barrett and Drew earning Recognized status while the middle school and high school were ranked Academically Acceptable.
While the high school did not reach the 70% mark, the overall results show the campus is moving in the right direction. Students showed improvement in every test and every subgroup. In math and science, which are traditionally the lowest scoring tests, Crosby High had an overall passage rate of 71% and 72% respectively.
And while they did not reach that level in each subgroup, passage rates among African American, Economically Disadvantaged and Hispanic students was up between six and nine percent.
There were similar gains in science with passage rates going from the high 40% to low 50% mark. Hispanic students saw the most gains from 54% passage to 64%.
At the middle school, there was improvement in every test and subgroup except Economically Disadvantaged math and White science. Both of which were one student passing away from showing improvement.
HIGHLANDS
Of the 22 campuses which comprise Goose Creek CISD, 12 were named Recognized while one (Austin Elementary) was named Exemplary.
Highlands Elementary/ Hopper Primary was among those Recognized. The school had between 87 and 92% passage in reading, 94 and 99% in writing and 75 and 89% in science. They were also one student away from having over 90% in each math subgroup.
Had it not been for science Highlands Junior would have been an Exemplary campus, but rather fell to Acceptable. The school had over 90% in every test except in science. In science, the TEA reported an overall passage of 70%. But by subgroup found 63% passage for African American, 59% for Hispanic and 52% in Economically Disadvantaged. These figures do represent an improvement over last year.
