Cedar Hill schools get mixed signals from TEA

by Loyd Brumfield of Cedar Hill TODAY

The Cedar Hill School District received mixed messages in the latest round of Texas Education Agency ratings: Overall the district was rated academically acceptable, but it swapped one low-rated school for another.

The district's Ninth Grade Center, entering its third year of education, was rated academically unacceptable, while Bessie Coleman Middle School - rated that way last year - was bumped up to acceptable in the TEA's latest findings.

The subgroup of economically disadvantaged students was the difference for the Ninth Grade Center. Thirty-eight percent of that group met the standard for acceptability in math scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Test.

The minimum standard for math at the high school level is a 45 percent passing rate. Any one measured group that falls below that standard results in an unacceptable rating.

“If you exclude them, then we met the standard,” said Dr. Homer Carter, Cedar Hill's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Carter estimated that only a handful of economically disadvantaged students failed to meet the standard, but it was enough to affect the overall rating.

“We are more than able to fix this,” Carter said. “Our concern now is to double-check the data to make sure our numbers match the TEA's. It's a laborious process, but we have to make sure to do the match to see if everything adds up.”

There was good news in the district's ratings, especially at the elementary level where Lake Ridge Elementary received an exemplary rating to join Bray Elementary in that category.

Plummer Elementary was rated recognized, joining High Pointe Elementary and Waterford Oaks Elementary.

All other Cedar Hill schools were rated acceptable, including Bessie Coleman, which was hurt by social studies scores after its first year of existence in 2006.

“The numbers jumped significantly there, and it is in large part thanks to the hard work of Principal (Michael) Timms and especially to the teachers, who really worked hard to elevate our students,” Carter said.

Overall, every group in the district met the minimum standards for academically acceptable. Sixty-three percent of economically disadvantaged students met the standard for math, along with 53 percent in science, 85 percent in social studies, 87 percent in writing and 82 percent in reading.

“The numbers are looking much better than they have in the past,” Cedar Hill School Board President Dan Hernandez said. “Of course, you hate to swap (unacceptable) schools like that, but if you take those schools aside and look at the results, we're very close to being a recognized district.”

Seventy percent of students must meet overall minimum standards to reach recognized status. Cedar Hill needs to bring up its math and science scores a bit to reach that.

“We know the relevancy of the test will increase every year and the standards are going to go up every year, and it's up to us as educators to be ahead of the curve and do everything we can to help our students,” Carter said.

For Bessie Coleman, every group raised its scores dramatically in social studies.

Overall, 84 percent met the 65 percent minimum standard for acceptability in social studies, led by white students who met the standard at a 99 percent clip.

Eighty-two percent of African-American students met the standard, along with 83 percent of Hispanics and 84 percent of economically disadvantaged students at Coleman.

“We have a great team on board to make sure we stay on top of whatever the standards are and our working toward our goal of becoming an exemplary district,” Hernandez said. “We should have been there several years ago, but we weren't, but we will get there with the leadership of (Superintendent Horace) Williams and the staff.”

Carter said the district is working toward an educational model that de-emphasizes TAKS scores while recognizing their importance.

“There are many things to learning other than the TAKS,” he said. “We need to de-emphasize that and re-emphasize the college preparatory aspect of education. If we do that and are successful, then the TAKS becomes just another part of school.”