The Galveston County Daily News

Area schools earned higher accountability ratings than last year, largely because of two loopholes allowed by the state.

The state’s rankings of school districts were released Friday afternoon. Forty area schools earned exemplary ratings, the state’s highest. Last year, 23 earned that rating. Statewide, the number of exemplary schools more than doubled from 1,000 to 2,151 — the highest number since 2002, according to the Texas Education Agency.

There also was an upswing in unacceptable schools statewide, largely because of poor graduation rates and low science scores. In Galveston County, three schools earned the state’s lowest ranking of unacceptable — Ball High School in Galveston, Texas City High School and Blocker Middle School in Texas City. The low ratings forced the state to label Galveston and Texas City public school districts unacceptable overall.

Hurricane Ike Provision

Ratings likely would have been lower had districts not used two exemptions allowed by the Texas Education Agency.

The agency, which declared Hurricane Ike a crisis for state education, instituted a provision preventing hurricane-disrupted schools that lost more than 10 class days from getting an unacceptable rating because of low test scores.

The exemption does not prevent schools with high dropout rates from receiving the state’s lowest rating.

The so-called Hurricane Ike provision, similar one set in place after Hurricane Rita in 2005, was supposed to protect schools in the Clear Creek, Galveston, High Island, Hitchcock, La Marque and Santa Fe districts, as well as Galveston charter schools Odyssey Academy and Ambassadors Preparatory Academy, from unacceptable ratings.

Texas City schools, the first to open in the county after Ike, were not eligible for the exemption because schools were closed only eight days.

“We tried to do what’s best for kids,” spokeswoman Melissa Tortorici said. “The state didn’t take into account the 400 students we took in after Ike. The only thing they considered was the number of days school was closed.”

Not Rated The Texas Education Agency did not rate eight area schools because of Hurricane Ike. Although the agency did not provide data for most of those unrated schools, it was clear from the data provided that some would have been rated unacceptable, including Hitchcock High School, Crosby Middle School in Hitchcock and La Marque Middle School.

Some of the unrated schools, however, would have earned acceptable ratings, Galveston school district Superintendent Lynne Cleveland said. She said she plans to file an appeal with the state to rate Burnet and Scott elementary schools and Central Middle School. Hurricane Ike destroyed all three campuses when it came ashore over Galveston on Sept. 13. Students from those schools spent the year at other campuses.

Exemption

The state also changed the standards to allow some students who failed the state standardized tests to be counted as having passed. The Texas Projection Measure allows schools to count a student as passing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test if that student’s performance improved so much the school could expect the student to pass the exam next year.

The exemption increased a school or district’s chance of earning a top rating, Commissioner of Education Robert Scott said.

Thirty-one of the 91 Galveston County area schools earned a better rating than last year. Among those, at least 18 used the Texas Projection Measure formula to earn the better rating.

Friendswood public school district used the exemption to earn an exemplary rating for the whole district, even though, without the exemption, Zue S. Bales Intermediate School would have been rated recognized.

According to the Texas Education Agency, 13 percent of the school’s Hispanic students failed the TAKS math exam. The state requires that, to be exemplary, no more than 10 percent of students fail the exam.

It appears some schools used the state exemption to dodge the lowest rating of unacceptable. Santa Fe High School, for example, earned an acceptable rating even though 46 percent of the school’s low-income students failed the TAKS mathematics exam.

La Marque High School achieved an acceptable rating although 48 percent of the school’s low-income and African-American students failed the mathematics exam.

The state requires that no more than 45 percent of students fail the mathematics exam for a school to be acceptable.

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School Ratings School — 2009 Accountability Rating — 2008 Accountability Rating (* denotes no change) Clear Creek Independent School District - recognized Clear Creek High School — recognized — acceptable Clear Horizons Early College High School — exemplary — * Clear Lake High School — exemplary — acceptable Clear Springs High School — recognized — * Clear Brook High School — recognized — acceptable Clear View Education Center — recognized — * Seabrook Intermediate Center — not rated — exemplary Clear Lake Intermediate School recognized acceptable Space Center Intermediate School — exemplary — * League City Intermediate School — recognized — * Creekside Intermediate School — recognized — * Brookside Intermediate School — recognized — * Victory Lakes Intermediate School — recognized — acceptable Westbrook Intermediate School — recognized — acceptable Clear Lake City Elementary School — exemplary — * Ed H. White Elementary School — exemplary — recognized League City Elementary School — recognized — * James H. Ross Elementary School — exemplary — * Bay Elementary School — exemplary — * Lavace Stewart Elementary School — exemplary — recognized Margaret S. McWhirter Elementary School — recognized — * G.H. Whitcomb Elementary School — exemplary — recognized P.H. Greene Elementary School — exemplary — * Armand Bayou Elementary School — exemplary — * C.D. Landolt Elementary School — exemplary — recognized Walter Hall Elementary School — exemplary — * John F. Ward Elementary School — exemplary — * Lloyd R. Ferguson Elementary School — exemplary — * Brookwood Elementary School — exemplary — * Wedgewood Elementary School — exemplary — recognized I.W. and Eleanor Hyde Elementary School — exemplary — recognized North Pointe Elementary School — exemplary — * Art and Pat Goforth Elementary School — exemplary — * Henry Bauerschlag Elementary School — exemplary — * Falcon Pass Elementary School — exemplary — * Arylne and Alan Weber Elementary School — exemplary — recognized G.W. Robinson Elementary Schoool — exemplary — * Darwin L. Gilmore Elementary School — exemplary — *

Dickinson Independent School District - acceptable Dickinson High School — acceptable — * R.D. McAdams Junior High — acceptable — * Dunbar Middle School — recognized — * John E. Barber Middle School — recognized — acceptable Kenneth E. Little Elementary School — exemplary — recognized Jake Silbernagel Elementary School — exemplary — * Hughes Road Elementary — recognized — * Bay Colony Elementary — recognized — * San Leon Elementary — exemplary — recognized

Friendswood Independent School District - exemplary Friendswood High School — exemplary — * Friendswood Junior High — exemplary — * Westwood Elementary — exemplary — * C.W. Cline Elementary School — exemplary — * Zue S. Bales Intermediate School — exemplary — *

Galveston Independent School District - unacceptable Ball High School — unacceptable — * Austin Middle School — exemplary — acceptable Central Middle School — not rated — acceptable Weis Middle School — acceptable — * Crenshaw Elementary and Middle School — not rated — recognized Burnet Elementary School — not rated — recognized Morgan Elementary School — recognized — acceptable Charles B. Scott Elementary School — not rated — acceptable Oppe Elementary School — exemplary — acceptable Parker Elementary School — exemplary — acceptable Rosenberg Elementary School — not rated — acceptable

High Island Independent School District - recognized High Island High School — recognized — acceptable High Island Middle School — recognized — * High Island Elementary School — acceptable — *

Hitchcock Independent School District - not rated Hitchcock High School — not rated — unacceptable Crosby Middle School — not rated — unacceptable Stewart Elementary School — recognized — acceptable

La Marque Independent School District - acceptable La Marque High School — acceptable — * La Marque Middle School — not rated — acceptable Highlands Elementary School — recognized — acceptable Inter City Elementary School — recognized — acceptable Simms Elementary School — recognized — acceptable Westlawn Elementary School — acceptable — *

Santa Fe Independent School District - acceptable Santa Fe High School — acceptable — * Santa Fe Junior High — acceptable — * Santa Fe Intermediate School — recognized — * Elizabeth Yaws Cowan Elementary School — exemplary — recognized Roy J. Wollam Elementary School — exemplary — recognized Dan J. Kubacak Elementary School — exemplary — recognized

Texas City Independent School District - unacceptable Texas City High School — unacceptable — acceptable Blocker Middle School — unacceptable — acceptable Fry Intermediate School — acceptable — * Heights Elementary School — recognized — * Kohfeldt Elementary School — recognized — * Northside Elementary School — recognized — * Roosevelt-Wilson Elementary School — recognized — *

Charter schools Mainland Preparatory Academy — acceptable — recognized Odyssey Academy — recognized — acceptable Ambassadors Preparatory Academy — recognized — acceptable