Marble Falls, Burnet schools get passing grades (and honors) from state
FROM STAFF REPORTS
MARBLE FALLS — The Texas Education Agency released the latest round of school accountability ratings as the state completes the transition from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exams to the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness.
The TEA accountability ratings for 2013 are simply “met standard” or “improvement required” compared to the TAKS ratings of “exemplary,” “recognized,” “acceptable” and “unacceptable.”
All the campuses in the Marble Falls Independent School District and the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District earned the new “met standard” level.
“We are very pleased that the district and all the campuses were rated as ‘met standard,'” BCISD Superintendent Keith McBurnett said. “I think it speaks to the hard work and focus of the BCISD staff. At the same time, we also recognize that there are areas that we must address to ensure that all students are performing at the highest level possible.”
MFISD Superintendent Rob O’Connor echoed his Burnet colleague’s sentiments. Along with all MFISD campuses achieving “Met Standard,” each one also picked up other accolades.
Under the new system, campuses and districts also can earn an “academic distinction” moniker for performing high in math, reading and student progress.
“I am proud to announce that, in addition to all of our campuses receiving a ‘met standard’ designation, all of our campuses also received an ‘academic distinction’ rating for superior achievement in one or more areas,” O’Connor said.
Those included:
• Marble Falls High School — academic distinction in math
• Marble Falls Middle School — academic distinction in reading/English language arts
• Highland Lakes Elementary — academic distinction in reading/English language arts
• Marble Falls Elementary — academic distinction in reading/English language arts and top 25 percent student progress
• Colt Elementary — academic distinction in reading/English language arts, math and top 25 percent student progress
• Spicewood Elementary — academic distinction in reading/English language arts, math and top 25 percent student progress
A campus earns the “top 25 percent student progress” designation if it is in the top 25 percent of its school-comparison group.
Marble Falls Elementary School Principal Bruce Peckover said one of the things that makes this new accountability system so exciting is it compares student performance against students with similar backgrounds.
“The state groups the campuses from all across state with those sharing similar demographics,” he said. “So, the campuses are compared to those schools in their comparison group.”
To earn a distinction accolade, a campus must rank in the top 25 percent of its comparison group for that particular area.
MFISD Director of Elementary Education Lee Courville said the new accountability system “will keep our individual campuses focused on closing the performance gap by serving the needs of each school’s unique population.”
The new system uses four index measures to determine a campus or district rating. Those include student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps and post-secondary readiness.
The post-secondary readiness index only applies to high schools.
For more information, check out the district websites at www.mfisd.txed.net or http://burnet.txed.net or the TEA’s site at www.tea.state.tx.us.
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