Encouraging TAKS news from AISD

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Austin School District has begun to receive preliminary campus-level results from the 2009 Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills tests.

Under the current timeline announced by the Texas Education Agency, school districts will receive preliminary TAKS data through June 8, when the results of the second administration of the Math tests are scheduled to be posted. We must be very careful not to react so quickly as to provide information that might change next week, or even next month.

Based upon the preliminary data that we have reviewed, thus far, we can report that students at Pearce Middle School appear to have made gains in every subject, compared with the 2008 TAKS, and the gains in Math, Reading and Writing are impressive.

Though gains were made in Science, as well, it is clear that there is much work to do in this area, to meet the State's and our own expectations. At this time, we are hopeful that HB 3, pending in the current Legislature, will be adopted and approved by the Governor, to permit Pearce to remain open, and continue on its current trajectory to success.

Similarly, students at Reagan High School showed substantial gains in Reading and Social Studies TAKS. Improvements were also made in Math and Science, but not at the same level.

Likewise, students at the new Eastside Memorial High School also showed overall improvements, when compared with the 2008 TAKS. Still, at both Reagan and Eastside, there is much work to be done. We are hopeful that, on final analysis, the evidence of the progress that these two schools are making will be validated.

In August 2009, Eastside will be transformed into two New Tech Academies for ninth and tenth grade students, one focused on Global Studies and the other on Green Technology.

We know that campus leaders, parents, students, and community members are eager to learn how their particular school(s) performed on TAKS, but the District must first ensure that voluminous preliminary test data on more than 52,000 tested students are complete and accurate.

It is also very important to remember that, even as preliminary TAKS scores are reviewed, these data are only one component of the State accountability rating system. Attendance, dropout and graduation rates also are components of the accountability system, and new this year to the equation is the Texas Projection Measure. The TPM is a new measure to provide individual campuses with credit for students who have shown academic growth.

The official campus accountability ratings are calculated by the State, and are scheduled to be released by TEA on, or about, August 1.