VISD denied appeal for academically unacceptable rating
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Meets testing requirements
The Victoria school district met requirements in the completion rates in four of the five cohort groups: all students, whites, Hispanics, African-Americans. The completion rate of the economically disadvantaged, which is a student who qualifies for a ...
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Meets testing requirements
The Victoria school district met requirements in the completion rates in four of the five cohort groups: all students, whites, Hispanics, African-Americans. The completion rate of the economically disadvantaged, which is a student who qualifies for a free or reduced federal meal program based on family income, did not meet the completion rate requirement.
The district also met all TEA requirements for TAKS scores to be at least academically acceptable, district spokesman Diane Boyett said.
Calling those who dropped out
In September, VISD conducted a "We Want You Back" campaign to enroll non-completers in courses or TAKS tutorials needed to obtain their high school diploma or GED. Dozens who enrolled in the evening classes at Profit Magnet High School were able to continue their education.
The Texas Education Agency has denied the Victoria school district's appeal of the academically unacceptable accountability rating.
Superintendent Bob Moore said Thursday he was disappointed but not surprised at the decision.
"We gave it a try in hopes of removing this label from our district and high school," Moore said in a news release.
The district and Memorial High School received the rating in August based on the 2007-08 completion rate of the economically disadvantaged students, said Diane Boyett, school district communications specialist.
The MHS economically disadvantaged completion rate was 67.4 percent, short of TEA's requirement of 75 percent or higher, Boyett said.
The district decided to appeal the rating based on having a number of students counted as dropouts who were ordered by a court judge to leave school and enroll in a GED program.
"If a student is not coming to school, we do, after a period of time, have to make a court referral on that student," Boyett said. "We have judges that will say, 'You're not going to school. I am going to order you to go and get a GED.' And, at that time, that requires the student to withdraw from our schools and enroll in GED program if they are 17 or older."
Students ordered to enroll in the GED program were still counted as drop-outs, which affected VISD's rating, Boyett said.
Starting in 2011, the Texas legislation has said that students ordered by the court to leave school will not be counted against the district completion rate, Boyett said.
In addition, several former students included in the list of non-completers were included erroneously, according to a news release.
"There were some students on the list we didn't think were our students anymore," Boyett said "I think they may have been on our list at some point, but they didn't get re-coded correctly into wherever they went."
Each student in Texas has an identification code, Boyett said. When students move from one district to another in Texas, that code moves with them. But if a student moves to another state, he will not be in the state database anymore.
VISD is responsible for getting documentation that former students enrolled in another state or in a private school or returned to their home country, said Susanne Carroll, executive director of research and development, in a news release
"If a student leaves VISD, telling us they are moving to another city and will finish school there, it does not necessarily mean that they leave our cohort group," Carroll said. "If the state computer system does not find that student in another public school in Texas, they are presumed to be a dropout."
According to a letter from TEA Commissioner of Education Robert Scott to Moore, those misidentified students were not included in the completion rate, even though they were on the list as enrolled students.
Boyett said the district will deal with the TEA commissioner's decision, and try to avoid a repeat next year.
"Statistically, we were improving, and then we get that label," Boyett said. "We're going to live with it. Our superintendent sent a message out that said we still have reasons to hold our head up high.
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Are "hispanics or latinos" not descendants of the Spanish conquerors?
and that has what to do with the fact that they dont attend school. That has what to do with the fact that they become pregnant and start collecting welfare and food stamps instead of getting an educatiom or join gangs and wreak havoc for a living? when I was growing up, dropping out was a huge taboo in society, now it seems like the thing to do. My friends kid graduatedin 2008. that class had over 1100 in the ninth grade and 695 gradated.....whats with that????????
November 1, 2009 at 10:50 p.m.I'm pretty sick of having non-hispanic attached to every race that isn't hispanic.
November 1, 2009 at 10:37 p.m.my two cents i never signed or checked anything saying my child was white so your comment is pretty stupid and ay one who thinks that all latino or hispanics come from white are even more stupid...
November 1, 2009 at 9:44 p.m.Finally VISD got tagged with the rating they should have been tagged with years ago. It wasn't until they changed how drop outs were reported that the truth could come out. Any parent back during the first years of consolidation could have told you that the 90+ "completion" rate was bogus. Your kid started with 1,200+ freshmen and another 200 "reclassified" freshmen; and four years later less than 800 would walk the stage at graduation. It was embarrassing to send off senior transcripts to competitive schools when in September your child was ranked out of 1,100 kids and by January less than 900, and final transcripts less than 800. Your rank could stay the same, but your percentile dropped every month. (It does matter at competitive colleges)
For years VISD slithered by. You can always put spin on data to make it more palatable. Finally they have to admit that the actual graduation rate is much lower than they've been telling us.
November 1, 2009 at 9:28 a.m.On choices to pay school taxes, I will be 62 on Wednesday. Why should I pay school taxes when my children graduated from VISD many years ago?
October 30, 2009 at 5:01 p.m.Enjoy your H-weekend also and thanks for a small debate, too.
One more thing I would like to add. If a school board member does not have enough faith in a VISD education and sends their child to a private school, doesn't that tell you something? Thanks!
October 30, 2009 at 4:50 p.m.exresident, If a child of a school board member attends a public school, they would most likely do what I did. They would attend open house, sports events, academic evemts, teacher conferences, interact with the PTO, become a band/sport sponsor or other volunteer activities. The board member that has a child in a private school probably does the exact same thing at the private school. In short, they have no idea what goes on in the public system, other than what the superintendents or other board members tell them. They never get in on the ground floor of the school internal activities.
October 30, 2009 at 4:44 p.m.They pass rules and regulations for a school system that they never or rarely set foot in.
Yes, I do feel that if a person runs for a school board position, their children should be required to attend public schools.
The system that resulted in the VISD being determined to be Academically Unacceptable smacks of Political Correctness on steroids. What this state needs is a Board Of Education with the intelligence and intestinal fortitude to fire politically correct educationcrats like Robert Scott. No wonder it is so hard to get, and then keep, good teachers. Have you ever met anyone who went into teaching because of an overwhelming desire to join the school attendance police? When the reputation of an entire school district is held hostage to the attendance whims of the "economically disadvantaged" segment of the student body, there is something very, very wrong with the system being used to judge the schools.
October 30, 2009 at 3:47 p.m.i sooo agree with justataxpayer on this one
October 30, 2009 at 3:16 p.m.not only school bd members but personnel with 'titles' to their names also send their kid(s) to private school. NO FAITH!
October 30, 2009 at 1:49 p.m.Why do one or more school board members send their children to private schools? VISD is not good enough for their children, but it is for others.
October 30, 2009 at 1:34 p.m.Mr. Cavazos- I am impressed. Thank you. Awareness is not malcontent.
October 30, 2009 at 12:47 p.m.I've added the TEA letter to the story.
October 30, 2009 at 11:55 a.m.Christmas gift idea for the drop-out: The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn
Why not encourage them to continue learning and let them know that there are drop-outs who have.
October 30, 2009 at 11:31 a.m.Was it the Albany Free School that operated in the ghetto and offered classes that were relevant to the students there? They even designated a wall for graffiti.
October 30, 2009 at 11:26 a.m.An interesting peace of data to get your hands on would be how many of these drop outs are from parents of illegal immigrants? In recent years there has been a high number of illegals influx into Victoria and the school drop out rate has increased dramatically.
October 30, 2009 at 10:44 a.m.mimi312..I was not insinuating that EVERY parent didn't discipline, but too many of those who would fall into that drop-out category give up on school because somebody completely gave up on them a long time ago. Children need (and want) discipline/boundaries whether they admit it or not. There are too many people worried about somebody getting their feelings hurt once in awhile. In the mean time we are told not to give too much recognition to the ones doing good work but somebody else gets their feelings hurt when they aren't recognized, but they didn't do the work. Go figure !! If central office and the school board really want answers...ask the teachers. They are the ones in the trenches daily, not even the principals or parents know what the teachers deal with daily in today's classroom.
October 30, 2009 at 10:06 a.m.Imagine the changes that could be made if parents and teachers stood together. It's probably the relief of a few, that instead, they point the finger at each other.
October 30, 2009 at 9:31 a.m.Why blame the school for kids dropping out? Blame the parents who let them! VISD can't and shouldn't be a babysitter!
October 30, 2009 at 9:28 a.m.You folks that blame everyone for everything, need to put your money where your mouth is. Go teach at high school for a day, then report back here. I'll be waiting.
October 30, 2009 at 9:25 a.m.Oh someone should have talked to me about these so-called court-ordered GED's.... I could have told them just how concerned VISD is about giving kids an education!!!!!
Scarlett - not EVERY parent out there fails to discipline their child or teach them respect for authority figures...
October 30, 2009 at 8:43 a.m.Just curious...serious question and would like to hear a real answer. Why is race brought into this? WHY is it a race thing...why isn't it a GRADES thing? My thought is, every child should do their absolute best no matter what race...just seems like a no brainer to me. I don't care if u are PURPLE, if your child isn't excelling, you should help them to be their best??!! Just don't understand :(
October 30, 2009 at 8:34 a.m.it all starts at the top! We hold our kids to all these standards whether playing sports or in school classes to achieve(win). When that doesn't happen we look first to the parents/teacher and then in sports to the coach not doing their job better, in a sense.
VISD is judge by many standards and TEA has their tool to rate ALL schools in the state. And guess what???? VISD Administrators failed. Sure blame him/her/them/they but in a nutshell the Chain of Command let their guard down and so now we all are branded.
We use differ evaluations for teachers, students, even bus drivers to do their job and now that VISD FAILED--they try to cry foul. Bull caca. The School Board needs to have action or they too need re-focusing(voted out)since they in-turn are a extension of the community/parents. Which means too we accepted this also. Parents need to voice thier concerns just as all are worried about the AD positions. Get involoved.
October 30, 2009 at 8:31 a.m.GREAT post Scarlett! Could NOT agree more!!! :) Tired of children learning the "poor me" attitude at home...that's a HUGE part of what is wrong with the entire country!!
October 30, 2009 at 8:22 a.m.Im not saying anything about who got her first or if spaniards slept with indians all im saying is my child is not white therefore should not be classified as such,its like a slap in the face. I mean why cant we call white kids black..if its no big deal? So if white is an absence of color ,which makes no sense, then my child should be conssidered black because he is not at an absence of color. Brown people are not invisible,though i know many wish it were so.. we must stand up against people acting as if we do not exist.
October 30, 2009 at 7:54 a.m."someone should ask tea about hispanic or latino children being classified as white.... thats a load of ..."
October 29, 2009 at 8:30 p.m.
In answer to the above quote, white happens to be an absence of color as reflected by a prism, whereas, black is a combination of all colors.
October 30, 2009 at 7:40 a.m.Socio-economic is not race. Please do not interchange the 2 terms. They are different categories. The drop out rate will not show improvement until more parents step up and teach their children to value education. These children start at elementary but if something doesn't go their way, if they are not entertained they go home and tell mom/dad they hate school it's boring. Well it is part of life. As adults there are ALOT of things we hate or that are boring but they still have to be done. VISD needs to quit catering to the wants of these parents who have no idea about parenting much less education. These parents now have too much say in a system they con't care about. They are just trying to teach "poor little Johnny" how to work it. Parents need to discipline there children at home, that does not mean beat the snot out of them. Expect them to treat teachers/adults and classmates with respect and that teachers are there to educate them, NOT to keep them ENTERTAINED for another 8 hours.
October 30, 2009 at 7:02 a.m.Spain is in Europe. Spain not unlike other imperialist European countries struck out to expand their holdings globally. So why do you believe there is a difference between a Conquistador landing on the Texas coast and a German doing the same ? If Italian's and the French and Greeks are considered white - why would Spaniards not be ? Spanish were not the first occupiers to take liberties with the available females in their newly attained holdings. There is not a distinctive category for the off spring of a Frenchman and a native American.
October 30, 2009 at 2:11 a.m.I wasn't provided with the letter. The reference to the letter was in the news release. I'll see if I can get a copy.
October 29, 2009 at 9:02 p.m.Good point, ex.
October 29, 2009 at 8:57 p.m.someone should ask tea about hispanic or latino children being classified as white.... thats a load of ...
October 29, 2009 at 8:30 p.m.CLEAN HOUSE! School board members> Dont be our represenatives on the board if you keep the very same people in the new schools who got our district is this disgrace. You all should step down as well if this occurs. I make the motion online.
Mr. Cavazos -- how about showing us the pdf of the letter from TEA Commissioner of Education Robert Scott to Moore???
October 29, 2009 at 7:59 p.m.