By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com
Five Johnson County school districts, including Cleburne ISD, met adequate yearly progress provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act according to 2009 data released by Texas Education Agency on Friday.
Every Cleburne campus, including TEAM school, met AYP. Last year, both middle schools and the school district missed AYP.
TEAM school originally missed in 2008, but CISD won an appeal in its behalf.
Under the provisions of the federal law, all public school campuses, school districts and the state are evaluated for progress in three areas: reading and language arts, mathematics, and either graduation rate for high schools and districts or attendance rate for elementary and middle/junior high schools.
The Texas Projection Measure, a new part of the Texas school accountability system, was used in the AYP evaluations. Under the TPM, students are evaluated based on projections of their future performance on state standardized tests.
Cleburne ISD’s public image has been tarnished somewhat in the last year. The AYP announcement, said Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard, restores some of the glitter.
“This is something we’re very, very proud of,” he said.
Much credit is due to the campus staffs, said Assistant Superintendent Darlene Callender.
“They should feel good. There should be lots of celebrations right now. The principals have done a lot with their staffs, and the staffs have done a great job.”
AYP differs slightly from Academic Excellence Indicator System, the Texas accountability system.
But both use scores and passing percentages from state-mandated TAKS tests.
“AEIS has to do with all things the state holds us accountable for, such as dropout rates, completion rates and TAKS,” Beard said. “AYP uses TAKS scores because the federal government hasn’t established a national curriculum,.”
In Cleburne, scores were scrutinized last year to determine where problems were most severe.
“One of the first things we did was look at all the scores to see how they rated in accountability statewide as well as federally,” Callender said. “We saw where percentages were low, and we identified percentages that could become a problem in the future. We met with the principals and talked about what we could do to support them. The principals came up with plans for what they could do to address those particular problems. Our math and science coordinators went to the principals and said, ‘What can we do to help you?’ ”
Because AEIS and AYP achievement expectations are raised every year, students must boost their achievement rates.
“And they will,” Callender said.
“We have lots of things in place that will improve student achievement on the state tests such as CSCOPE [aligned curriculum],” Beard said. “Everything we do over time will increase the impact we have. We expect achievement to go up in all areas. We have to increase student achievement every year to stay ahead of the curve. We want to get way out ahead of it.”
Other county districts making AYP were Burleson, Godley, Grandview and Joshua.
Alvarado ISD missed because of high school graduation rate; Keene ISD missed because of reading performance; Rio Vista ISD missed because of math performance; and Venus ISD missed because of reading performance.
At Alvarado, the junior high, intermediate and all three elementaries met AYP.
At Burleson, the high school, both middle schools, the Academy at Nola Dunn and all six elementaries met AYP.
At Godley, the high school, middle school and intermediate met AYP.
At Grandview, the high school, junior high and intermediate met AYP.
At Joshua, the high school, Accelerated Learning Center, middle school and all five elementaries met AYP.
At Keene, the high school, Accelerated Learning Center, junior high and elementary met AYP.
At Rio Vista, the high school, middle school and elementary met AYP.
At Venus, the high school missed AYP because of math performance. The middle school and elementary met AYP.
