The Texas Education Agency recently issued its accountability ratings for the 2001-02 school year. Here’s how it works: To be ranked ‘exemplary,’ every sub-population (Anglo, Hispanic, African American, etc.) in every subject must score at least a 90 percent passing rate; the ‘recognized’ ranking requires at least 80 percent of every sub-population passed; ‘acceptable’ means at least 55 percent. Here’s how Lake Highlands area schools performed.

 

 

 

 

Lake Highlands High School                Acceptable

 

 

Lake Highlands Freshman Center                   Acceptable

 

 

Lake Highlands Junior High                 Acceptable

 

 

Forest Meadow Junior High                          Low Performing

 

 

Aikin Elementary                                Exemplary

 

 

Forest Lane Academy                                   Acceptable

 

 

Lake Highlands Elementary                           Acceptable

 

Merriman Park Elementary                            Recognized

 

 

Moss Haven Elementary                     Acceptable

 

 

Northlake Elementary                                   Recognized

 

 

Skyview Elementary                                     Acceptable

 

 

Stults Road

Elementary                       Recognized

 

 

Wallace Elementary                                      Recognized

 

 

White Rock Elementary                      Acceptable

 

 

 

 

As you might imagine, we are deeply concerned when a school is ranked low performing, because it seems as if the entire school is failing. This is not the case at Forest Meadow. Here are all the scores from FMJH.

 

 

 

 

All Students passing rates

 

 

·        Reading            91.7%

 

 

·        Math                87.9%

 

 

·        Writing             80.5%

 

 

 

 

Anglo passing rates

 

 

·        Reading            99.6%

 

 

·        Math                98.5%

 

 

·        Writing             95.9%

 

 

 

 

Hispanic passing rates

 

 

·        Reading            84.8%

 

 

·        Math                76.5%

 

 

·        Writing             62.5%

 

 

 

 

African American passing rates

 

 

·        Reading            86.0%

 

 

·        Math                81.1%

 

 

·        Writing             69.2%

 

 

 

 

Economically disadvantaged passing rates

 

 

·        Reading            84.1%

 

 

·        Math                80.1%

 

 

·        Writing             54.2%

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the passing rates of economically disadvantaged children in the area of writing dipped below the 55 percent cutoff by less than 1 percent, and thus FMJH received the undesirable designation. 

 

 

Interestingly, Just for the Kids (JFTK), a recognized organization that rewards schools it identifies as “Best in Class,” cited Forest Meadow for success in algebra, social studies and writing and Lake Highlands Junior High for algebra and social studies. JFTK based its evaluation upon students in attendance over a 2-year period and focused on growth and improvement.  Our TEA state rankings count the scores of all students enrolled, even if a student registered the day before the test.

 

 

Skyview Elementary deserves special accolades this year. In a heartbreaker, the school missed a ‘recognized’ designation by .9 of one percent in economically disadvantaged reading with a 79.1percent passing rate. White Rock and Lake Highlands elementaries also just barely missed this designation.

 

 

Academic excellence is an expectation for all our schools.  We are very proud of our SAT scores, National Merit finalists, scholarships and we’re also proud of being named one of the top 100 school districts in the nation by the Wall Street Journal. But if we fail to address the needs of even one child, then we have not met our goal of high achievement for all students.