Good morning!  Hope you had a good weekend and it seems as if everyone is really settled in to the routines of the school year.  Last week I mentioned that it will be several days or weeks until some of the schools affected by Hurricane Ike can re-open, and as a result we may have some students enrolled in our schools.  At the present time we have had 15 students enroll in ten different schools so we are not really feeling the impact of enrollments.  We do expect these enrollments to be short term because I believe families will return to their homes as soon as they can.  We will be tracking these students and identifying any extra expenditures associated with their stay, but I do not expect that to be very identifiable.  We will count these students in our average daily attendance for state aid purposes, and we do welcome them to Northside.

Recently there was an article in the San Antonio Express News about the fact that the state allowed for some exceptions to not meeting an accountability standard at a certain level in order to avoid receiving a lower rating.  The accountability manual itself states that the purpose of this provision is to provide relief to larger campuses and districts with more diverse student populations.  A campus or district may use this provision to achieve an Academically Acceptable, Recognized, or Exemplary rating.  A large diverse campus or district might use up to four exceptions to move from Academically Acceptable to Recognized, or use one exception to move from Recognized to Exemplary.  To use an exception you must be no more than five percentage points below the standard.  In the article the president of the Texas Association of Business criticized the Texas Education Agency for allowing school districts to apply an exception.  In Northside we had two campuses move from Academically Acceptable to Recognized using exceptions, and two campuses move from Recognized to Exemplary.

As a result of the criticism I wrote a response which I want to share with you.  It is as follows:

In the article in the San Antonio Express News on August 10, 2008, entitled "Schools' ratings boosted thanks to help from state," Bill Hammond, the president of the Texas Association of Business, says that the state's accountability "system has been dishonest about where we are."  The article said that he felt the ratings don't present a true picture of how the state's schools are doing.  The implication was that not enough school campuses and school districts were being identified as failures.

While I appreciate Mr. Hammond's interest in public education, I often wonder why he constantly wants to find fault with public schools and public education in general.  I am sure he understands that, under the state and federal accountability system, schools can be tagged for closure if they are identified as failures for three years in a row.  But the main question is what should identify a school as a failure?

Under the state accountability system a school must meet a particular set of standards identified to be rated exemplary, recognized, or academically acceptable.  The five student groups that must meet all the standards identified include all students, white students, African American students, Hispanic students, and economically disadvantaged students.  If any one of these groups fails to meet the standard, then the school campus or school district receives the next lower rating. 

The five student populations test in five subject areas, and each population must meet the standard to receive a particular rating.  In addition, each population must meet the standard set for completion rate which is applicable to the high schools and dropout rate which is applicable to the middle schools.  Therefore, there are 35 cells in which a district must meet the standards set in order to receive a particular rating.  For instance, if a school district meets the standard set in 34 of the cells to be exemplary, yet does not meet the standard in one cell, then it could be rated recognized, academically acceptable, or academically unacceptable.  Another example would be if a high school met all exemplary standards in the areas tested by each population, yet if one of those populations did not meet the standard for academically acceptable in terms of completion rate the high school would be rated academically unacceptable.  Most large districts are evaluated based on the 35 cells, whereas elementary schools are evaluated on 25 cells, middle schools on 30 cells, and high schools on 30 cells.  If any one school falls below a standard set for a particular rating then the school receives the lower rating.

This would be analogous to declaring a business a failure if it did not meet a standard set in only one of 35 areas.  The business may very well be performing at an exceptional level, but have just one area which does not meet a particular set standard and therefore the business is rated as a total failure.  I have talked with many business owners who cannot believe this is the way the rating system works, and have said that there are times their business would have been declared a failure even though it was being very profitable.

Public schools do not pick and choose who enrolls in their schools, nor can we or should we get rid of students who don't perform up to expectations.  Our role is to help all students be successful.  We welcome everyone who walks through our doors, no matter their background, level of schooling or desire to learn.  We get students from all walks of life, and this is the great opportunity provided by all public schools.  For example NISD receives students from war-torn areas of Africa who speak no English and who have had no formal schooling of any kind.  Many do not know what a water fountain is or how to use a public restroom.  We teach them all of the things to assimilate them into our schools and society in addition to beginning their formal education.

I agree with Mr. Hammond that changes need to take place within the accountability system, but what we need is a system that is realistic, fair, and equitable.  What public schools across the state of Texas, particularly those in large, diverse districts, are doing is nothing short of extraordinary. Setting high expectations is crucial.  Setting unrealistic expectations to set schools up for failure is deplorable.

Our public schools are doing an outstanding job, and teachers are helping students be successful every day.  I encourage you to share what I have written with others and let people know how hard everyone works to achieve success and achieve the best accountability rating we can.  Northside is a "Recognized" school district without exception!

Also, we have such great teachers in our schools.  This week the San Antonio Federal Credit Union and KENS 5 TV recognized Jane Nicholson of Warren High School as the 2008-09 ExCEL Award recipient from Northside ISD.  This award program recognized some of the finest educators in our public schools.  Ms. Nicholson certainly meets that criteria as being an exceptional teacher and Academic Decathlon co-chair.  Congratulations Jane, we are proud of you!

In closing, I want to say how much I appreciate the tremendous work you do each day.  In Northside "We Believe" in our work and what we are doing for our students even though some may not!  Have a great week!