ECISD pleased with TEA visit

Texas Education Agency officials have left West Texas after a weeklong intervention in Ector Independent School District due to performance shortcomings by the district.

District officials say overall they are confident following the visit but will have to wait at least eight weeks for a report reviewing the visit.

ECISD began preparing for the visit in December after receiving a letter from TEA. The TEA officials stepped due to several deficiencies including: the bilingual/ESL program which is classified as Stage 4 for invention, the lowest possible stage, the No Child Left Behind program, which is classified Stage 3 for intervention, the special education program, which is classified as Stage 1 for intervention and Residential Facility monitoring, which is classified as Stage 1.

Hector Mendez, ECISD superintendent, said at the end of TEA’s visit he was briefed on the positive things they had seen during their visit and things that still need work. He said some of the positive things were that the district has a very clear plan to address the curriculum through CSCOPE, data analysis on Eduphoria and the Professional Learning Community meetings.

“That’s a good thing,” Mendez said.

Mendez said TEA also commented on the communication used in the district and noted that ECISD has done a good job of rapidly communicating information from central office to the classroom. He said he found that surprising because he has heard that communication needs to be improved.

“Obviously that’s a good thing to have,” Mendez said, noting he understands that it doesn’t mean communication cannot still be improved.

Mendez said another area where TEA complimented ECISD was on its structures and processes in place to help student performance.

“The structures and processes are creating momentum,” Mendez said. “There is a framework that is systemic.”

The agency also addressed concerns during the final visit with Mendez.

Mendez said they expressed concerns with the bilingual/ESL programs. It has been several years since the district has improved student assessments in that area.

For the past eight years the district has been classified in a stage for intervention by TEA.

“We haven’t been able to overcome those issues,” he said.

Additionally, Mendez said they addressed concerns with the way some of the programs have been implemented.

“In terms of program design (in bilingual/ESL and special education programs), there’s inconsistent implementation still,” Mendez said. “It needs to be pervasive in the district.”

In response to the inconsistent implementation, Mendez said the district needs to monitor the processes in place to see where the inconsistencies are and try to improve them. Another area for improvement TEA brought to Mendez’s attention, was the high retention rates among bilingual/ESL students.

In 2009, the special education program was classified as Stage 4, but TEA officials told Mendez that the findings from 2009 have been satisfactorily corrected and Special Ed is now classified in Stage 1.

“We have some areas that we need to work on, but we do have the framework to address these needs not just for these (bilingual/ESL and special education) students, but for all students,” Mendez said.

He said agency officials told him to expect a report in the summer. He said at the conclusion of the report that  three things can happen.

The agency can mandate a corrective action plan and develop a documented plan to address the plan, TEA can place a monitor in the district to oversee ECISD, or the district could be placed on a credit warn status; meaning the district could lose its accreditation status in the future if changes are not made.

Mendez said processes and procedures are still not where they need to be, but on the right track.

“Right now we’re having to learn, but it’s very focused and it’s the right thing; helping students be all they can be,” he said.

After the past few months of criticism from some employees regarding CSCOPE, Eduphoria and PLC meetings, the positive reinforcement from TEA is helpful, he said

CSCOPE is the online curriculum system aligned to state standards ECISD uses currently for its mathematics and science courses. Eduphoria is a lesson planning and data analysis software program. The implementation of the programs in the district have come with some resistance, particularly from veteran teachers and expressed by employees through a survey.

“At least it builds the case that you can’t leave it to chance,” Mendez said. “You have to have a clearly articulated plan.”

That plan, also garnered complements by TEA at Hood Junior High, according to its principal.

The TEA agents made visits throughout the week to various campuses, but said prior to the visit they would specifically visit the district’s three unacceptable campuses; Goliad Elementary,  Hood and Permian High.

Henri Lewis, Hood Junior High principal, said the TEA representatives told her they were able to see some good things with CSCOPE, Eduphoria and PLC meetings.

“It actually was a good visit,” Lewis said. “They were impressed with our data room.”

She said in the past year, the school has added a data room used by various departments in the school to process and analyze student data.

“I’m excited to hear the feedback,” Lewis said.

Martha Mitchell, principal from Goliad Elementary, agreed that the visit went well. She said the TEA representatives did not provide feedback to her, but wanted to know from her what the school was doing to help its students.

“I know we’re doing everything we can for our students,” she said. “It was actually nice to let them know what we’re doing.”

Mendez agreed.

“It validates our work, and it tells us these are not insurmountable issues” Mendez said. “The team (ECISD staff) will come together; we will certainly change the current image of ECISD.”

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