By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
It’s not all good news for San Benito CISD as preliminary TAKS scores indicate a possible academically “unacceptable” rating for Veterans Memorial Academy.
According to San Benito CISD Superintendent of Schools Antonio G. Limón, the preliminary TAKS scores show that the district is projected to go from being a Recognized district a year ago to Acceptable for the 2010-2011 school year, due in large part to VMA scoring a 63 percent on the Math portion of the exam, classifying the school as Unacceptable.
Limón, however, said that this does not reflect the overall performance of San Benito CISD.
“These are scores without the TPM (Texas Projection Measure). They’ve met all the areas except for the Commended Performance, in that area,” said Limón. The TPM is an estimate of whether a student is likely to pass the TAKS.
According to Limón, the preliminary TAKS scores for the district are 82-plus percent in Reading, 91 percent in Social Studies, 94 percent in Writing, 78-plus percent in Math, and 79 percent in Science. The district is still awaiting some re-testers for the Reading and Math portion of the exam.
“I can tell you that it’s highly possible that Dr. C.M. Cash and Ed Downs will be Exemplary. Recognized campuses are Fred Booth, La Encantada, Sullivan, highly possible for Berta Cabaza, Dr. Garza, and Judge Oscar De La Fuente,” Limón said. “Acceptable campuses are La Paloma, Frank Roberts, Riverside, Miller Jordan, Landrum, and Rangerville.”
According to Limón, San Benito High School had all of the requirements to be Recognized and met all of their scores, but the state increased the number of students who have to get a Commended Performance.
“In one subject area, they did not meet the requirement for Commended Performance. That’s the only reason why the high school is not Recognized,” Limón said. “They have to have at least 15 percent (Commended Performance), and the high school had 12 percent Commended. That was in the area of Reading ELA. Everything else was there for them to be Recognized, and just because they had 12 percent in Commended Performance.”
Limón went on to comment on VMA. “That is the campus that is Unacceptable. It is Unacceptable based on the Math scores. They needed to have reached 65 percent in Math, and they were only able to reach 63 percent,” Limón said.
When asked about the possibility of the rating changing when the official scores are released, Limón said, “No, not at VMA, because they don’t have any re-testers up.”
“I knew our scores were going to have some problems because our scores have had some problems in the past,” said newly elected San Benito CISD Board Secretary June Aguilera. “That’s why I came in. Hopefully we can change that.”
Aguilera proposed the idea of having more tutorials, and providing an opportunity for the teachers to have more time after school with the students.
“I think if they do more tutorials, it will be better for the students so they can interact one-on-one with the teacher without feeling ashamed or scared,” said Aguilera. “I know tutorials will help a lot, so hopefully the TAKS scores will be increased.”
Unfortunately, this year was the last year students will be taking the TAKS. Next year, the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) end of course exam will be making its debut.
“Next year will be a benchmark year. Scores will not count because it is the first year of STAAR, and STAAR has a lot more rigor than the TAKS does,” said Limón. “We’ll be conducting in services and working with teachers all summer to get them ready for the new exam that’s heading our way. We’re addressing the Math issue at VMA to get that corrected as well.”
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the May 29 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
3 comments
You gotta be kidding me. It’s revealed that a San Benito school is going to be rated academically unacceptable and you’re complimenting the superintendent’s explanation of the test results? Really?
Is it me, or is the bigger picture missed here? Hello?!?!? A school is unacceptable. What about this do you not get? Who cares about IDEA unless you have a son or daughter that goes there. Don’t try to defend the indefensible by hoping another school not associated with the San Benito school district is not as successful, or by trying to camouflage the problem here. The state is going to consider one of our schools unacceptable! Come on. Wake up and stop playing pety politics.
We should stop worrying about the age of our board members and start worrying about holding our school leaders accountable. Children’s futures are at stake here, and weighed on a scale versus a few jobs, I’d have to favor the kids. You’re nuts if you disagree.
A 19 year old school board member is giving advice on how to improve scores? What a joke! Shouldn’t the president be speaking on behalf of the board? I thank Mr. Limon for making it clear and explaining to the public about the test results. Without the TPM many valley school districts including IDEA Academy will have lower scores. I guarantee IDEA will not be Exemplary anymore.
Not surprisingly we’re hearing the same things from the superintendent..”We could’ve we should’ve, if not for this or that.” Everyone in the education system has known that in order to meet the ratings of recognized or exemplary, campuses need to improve the commended performance. Why make excuses. The scores are what they are. Secondly, last year they got a tremondous boost from the TPMs, by you never heard the superintendent say, ” If if wasn’t for the TPMs, we would have never made recognized.” The truth is, he only complaint when it doesn’t benefit him and he fails to disclose information, when it’s in his best interest. It does not look good that this campuses failed to make the grade, and he doesn’t tell the public that the only reason the high school is doing better, is because he segregated all the low performing students into an academy, or they would count against the high school. So with that I leave you…Mr. Limon, you reap what you sow…This new school board members will hold you accountable!