ECISD schools fail

In preliminary results, ECISD has failed to meet the No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress mark as a district, with every high and junior high campus failing to meet the standard.

AYP is part of the No Child Left Behind law and is not the same as TEA's academically acceptable or unac-ceptable ratings, which are determined by TEA regulations, not federal guidelines.

If the initial results announced Tuesday by the Texas Education Agency stand, Odessa High, Permian High, Advanced Technical Center (formerly Career Center), as well as Bonham, Bowie, Crockett, Hood, Nimitz and Ector failed to meet AYP. Burnet Elementary also missed AYP due to not having enough students participating in math exams. Last year, every elementary school met AYP. Of the criteria analyzed for AYP, ECISD overall missed the target in reading performance, mathematics performance and high school graduation rate. Perform-ance issues mostly related to special education students, as they took a new test for the 2008 ratings. According to the TEA report, 25 percent of Texas school districts did not make AYP this year, largely also due to special education student performance.

In Burnet Elementary's case, principal Lisa Wills said her school missed AYP by one point due to having 94 percent participation from special education students in the mathematics test. Wills said three students had to be gone that day due to a funeral and illness. Those three were the only students absent from the entire school dur-ing testing.

"It was disappointing, but it is something out of our control, so we are appealing," Wills said.

Schools and districts can appeal the initial results until Oct. 24. Schools may provide documentation, and ECISD will send an appeal to TEA.

Superintendent Hector Mendez said ECISD has no plans to appeal any of the findings except for Burnet's standing.

"We agree with the numbers, and we kind of anticipated them," Mendez said. "These are the results, and we will address them."

Mendez said individual campus administrators will examine how to better prepare students for testing and make sure enough students are testing to meet the AYP standard.

OHS and Permian missed AYP last year, along with the Career Center. However, of the junior high campuses, only Ector did not make AYP in 2007. Ector also missed AYP in 2006. In 2005, like Tuesday's preliminary results, all junior high campuses failed to make AYP.

Three measures make up high school and district ratings: reading/language arts, math and graduation rate. The language arts and math provisions involve both performance (how students did) and participation (number of students testing). Attendance rate replaces the graduation rate for elementary and junior high campuses. NCLB either requires the meeting of a benchmark standard or improvement toward the standard.

Several schools have failed to meet AYP consistently, particularly Ector. Ector failed to meet reading and math performance in the 2008 results. The school missed the same standards in 2007 after missing reading per-formance in 2006.

Permian actually had worse results in 2008 compared to 2007, missing math performance and participation this year and last, but also missing the mark in reading participation this year. Last year, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged math scores led to a failure to meet AYP, as well as special education test participation. All were an issue again this year, though Permian did see improvement in Hispanic mathematics performance from 42 to 45 percent proficient, closer to the minimum 50 percent required. Odessa High also had worse results compared to 2007. Instead of just missing math performance, the school also missed math participation.

Just as with the TEA accountability ratings, subgroups must meet AYP in addition to the overall student popu-lation. Blacks, Hispanics, whites, economically disadvantaged and Limited English Proficient students make up AYP subgroups.

The special education subgroup was a big part of why ECISD as a whole did not make AYP. Special educa-tion reading/language arts performance dropped 22 percentage points compared to 2007. Mathematics perform-ance dropped 34 percentage points. Every secondary campus failed to meet special education performance re-quirements in at least math or reading.

Bonham principal James Ramage said special education students took new exams last year more similar to the regular TAKS exam, as opposed to more flexible tests less focused on the standards as in the past. He said even students who struggle are now expected to meet grade level standards.

"The state and federal governments are really pushing for special education students to be tested on grade level, and some are just not quite ready for that," Ramage said.

He said that explains the dramatic drops in spe-cial education performance detailed across the district. At Bonham, the TEA report indicated reading scores dropped 33 points for special education students. Math scores dropped 28 points.

Ramage said he is proud of gains in other areas, such as overall reading scores. He said he will offer more tu-toring for the special education TAKS tests and be better able to evaluate which exam special education students should take after last year's results.

In addition to special education being a sticking point, the graduation rate for black students dropped 11 per-cent, from 63 to 52 percent. The number of graduates stayed roughly the same, but a larger number of black students led to the major decrease for that subgroup. Overall, the district did not meet the graduation rate.

Meeting AYP is important for a Title I school. Schools failing to meet the standard for two years may be forced to take corrective action, provide supplemental educational services or a myriad of other complicated actions to bring improvement. Of the schools not meeting the standard, only Burnet Elementary is a Title I school, and that campus did not fail to meet AYP in 2007, so no sanctions will be imposed.

Final results will be announced in DecemberSchools Missing Ayp

>> Odessa High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance and participation).

>> Permian High: Missed AYP in math (performance and participation) and reading (participation).

>> Career Center: Missed AYP in math (performance).

>> Bonham Junior High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance).

>> Bowie Junior High: Missed AYP in math (performance).

>> Crockett Junior High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance).

>> Hood Junior High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance).

>> Nimitz Junior High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance).

>> Ector Junior High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance).

>> Ector Junior High: Missed AYP in reading (performance) and math (performance).

>> Burnet Elementary: Missed AYP in math (participation).

All other Ector County schools met the AYP except the Alternative Education Center, Carver Early Education and Lamar Early Education, which are not evaluated for the AYP.