Report Card for All HISD Schools

For the fifth year in a row, Sam Houston High School has been rated “Academically Unacceptable” in the Texas Education Agency’s annual assessment of the state’s schools announced today. The school still will open in the fall, thanks to the reprieve it got in June from the HISD school board which lifted its threat to close the high school, even if Sam Houston was once again found wanting by the state.

Joining Sam Houston in the basement were: Dogan Elementary, Elrod Elementary, McNamara Elementary, Petersen Elementary, Pleasant Hill Elementary, Rucker Elementary, E.O. Smith Elementary, Dowling Middle, Las Americas Middle, Ryan Middle, Furr High, Lee High, Scarborough High and Sharpstown High. Of these, Petersen, Smith, Ryan and Scarborough have been academically unacceptable for two consecutive years. Also two alternative schools were judged unacceptable: Contemporary Learning Center Middle School and Houston Night High School.

Understandably, this was not the news the district chose to focus on in its press release embargoed to coincide with Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra’s rally at HISD headquarters today where he was “joined by principals and staff members from Exemplary and Recognized schools.”

And HISD did have good news:

-- Exemplary Schools: Bush Elementary, Condit Elementary, Cornelius Elementary, Horn Elementary, Kolter Elementary, Lyons Elementary, Oak Forest Elementary, River Oaks Elementary, Roberts Elementary, T.H. Rogers Elementary, West University Elementary, Energized Middle School, Carnegie Vanguard, DeBakey High Schoolmand East Early College. Count yourself or your kids lucky to go there.

-- “83 HISD schools were ‘Exemplary’ or ‘Recognized’, most in the TAKS era” (sort of like a basesball stat)

-- 94 percent of its schools met or exceeded the state standard a.k.a. its “Acceptable” rating.

-- Several schools pulled themselves out of Academically Unacceptable land; in fact the number was cut in half from last year.Two other schools threatened with closure this year -- Kashmere High and McReynolds Middle – climbed out of the basement. One school, Key Middle made it all the way to Recognized in one leap.

Exemplary means 90 percent of the students passed TAKS. Recognized means between 75 and 89 passed.Who knows what standards will be devised once TAKS is gone.

This chart shows all these top dogs, as well as the also rans. – Margaret Downing