Midland ISD receives C rating from TEA; Twice as many failing schools

The Texas Education Agency's Accountability Ratings for Midland ISD from the 2018-2019 school year have been released.

According to a release, MISD received an overall rating of C, or 75 out of 100. This is two points higher than last year's rating of 73 out of 100. But the district had twice as many failing schools as it did in 2018.

The overall rating is determined by how the district fares in three areas: Student Achievement, School Progress and Closing the Gap.

Student Achievement measures what students know and can do by the end of the school year. This is measured by state assessments, AP and ACT results and graduation rates.

School Progress measures how well students do on the STAAR test compared to last year and how students are doing academically compared to schools with similar percentages of economically disadvantaged students.

Closing the Gaps measures performance among students of various racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors.

MISD received a C rating in each of the three areas.

MISD's campuses received the following ratings:

A - Carver, Early College High School

B - Bush, Franks

C - Fasken, Yarbrough, Emerson, Greathouse, Bowie, Parker, Rusk, Santa Rita, Abell, Goddard, Lee Freshman, Lee High School, Midland Freshman, Midland High School

D - Bonham, Burnet, Fannin, Lamar, Long, Milam, South, Alamo, San Jacinto, Coleman High School

F - De Zavala, Henderson, Jones, Pease, Bunche, Sam Houston, Scharbauer, Travis, Washington

"We are pleased to see MISD's overall performance increase," said Patrick Jones, Chief Academic Officer in a release. "While we have many things to celebrate, we know that there are still areas that need our focus. Our commitment to raising academic achievement for every student is paramount."

You can find the TEA Accountability Ratings of all Texas schools and school districts online

.

___

The following is the full release from Midland ISD:

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has released the 2019 state accountability ratings today.

This is the first year that both districts and campuses will receive an overall rating, as well as a rating for each domain. Each letter grade corresponds to a 10-point numerical span.

A, B, C, or D: Assigned for overall performance and for performance in each domain to districts and campuses that meet the performance target for the letter grade.

F: Assigned for overall performance and for performance in each domain to districts and campuses that do not meet the performance target to earn at least a D. Campuses that receive an overall rating of F or D must engage in intervention requirements as prescribed by the TEA, including identifying members of the Campus Intervention Team, conducting a needs assessment, and developing and implementing a Targeted Improvement Plan.

Campuses receive a rating based on performance in three areas:

Student Achievement measures what students know and can do by the end of the year. It includes results from state assessments across all subjects for all students, on both general and alternate assessments, College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) indicators like AP and ACT results, and graduation rates.

School Progress assesses how much better students are doing on the STAAR test this year versus last year, and how much better students are doing academically relative to schools with similar percentages of economically disadvantaged students.

Closing the Gaps looks at performance among student groups, including various racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors.

Seventy percent of the accountability rating is based on the better of Student Achievement or Student Progress. The remaining thirty percent is based on performance in the Closing the Gaps area.

MISD received an overall rating of C and not only met the performance target but showed improvement in every domain. At the campus level, compared to the previous year:

19 campuses increased in their Overall Rating

27 campuses increased in Student Achievement

16 campuses increased in School Progress

25 campuses increased in School Progress - Relative Performance; and

16 campuses increased in Closing the Gap

2019 overall campus accountability ratings are as follows:

A: Carver, Early College High School

B: Bush, Franks

C: Fasken, Yarbrough, Emerson, Greathouse, Bowie, Parker, Rusk, Santa Rita, Abell, Goddard, Lee Freshman, Lee High School, Midland Freshman, Midland High School

D: Bonham, Burnet, Fannin, Lamar, Long, Milam, South, Alamo, San Jacinto, Coleman High School

F: De Zavala, Henderson, Jones, Pease, Bunche, Sam Houston, Scharbauer, Travis, Washington

"We are pleased to see MISD's overall performance increase," shared Patrick Jones, Chief Academic Officer. "While we have many things to celebrate, we know that there are still areas that need our focus. Our commitment to raising academic achievement for every student is paramount," he concluded.

High school performance was strong with each high school increasing in Student Achievement and Closing the Gaps. "We have made strides in increasing graduation rates and supporting College, Career and Military Readiness. Our High School Student Achievement results are a testament to that," said Jones.

Seventh grade scores in Reading, Writing, and Math increased at every campus on the Approaches level, and at three out of four campuses at the Meets level. This shows that students who are passing are doing so at higher levels of performance.

In the Student Achievement Domain, 27 campuses showed increases or maintained from 2018 accountability performance scores. 25 campuses showed increases in the School Progress Domain - Relative Performance. "The increases in Student Achievement and School Progress for Elementary and Junior Highs are attributable to increases in students’ STAAR achievement at the Approaches, Meets and Masters performance standards," shared Claudia Alanis, Director of Accountability.

78% of elementaries showed improvements in Science at the Masters standard; 74% showed improvement at the Meets standard.

Six campuses earned Distinction Designations in Science, three campuses earned Distinction Designations in Reading/ELA and Post-Secondary, two campuses earned Distinction Designations in Academic Growth and Closing the Gaps, and one campus earned a Distinction Designation in Mathematics.

Special Education and English Learner student groups continue to be groups in need of support. "We have completely overhauled the bilingual model for PreK, Kindergarten, and First Grade for the 2019-2020 School Year and are excited about the direction of the program moving forward," said Jones. The District also plans to provide extra support and training to Special Education teachers.

MISD continues its focus on literacy, the use of the TEKS Resource System, Data Teams, and an emphasis on PLCs to support student outcomes.