Mckinney Courier-gazette > News
Five area districts maintain their TEA ratings
BY STEFANIE WHITE, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Five of the local school districts around McKinney kept their same Academically Acceptable ratings and one kept its Recognized rating.
The 2007 accountability ratings were released Tuesday by the Texas Education Agency. Anna ISD, Blue Ridge ISD, Farmersville ISD, Princeton ISD and Prosper ISD all remained Academically Acceptable while Melissa ISD was once again a Recognized district.
Jason Smith, Melissa ISD superintendent, said the district is pleased with receiving a Recognized rating again, with all three of its schools keeping Recognized ratings.
“We were very excited about that,” Smith said.
Smith said the teachers, students and administrators contributed to the Recognized rating.
“We feel like we have a special group of teachers and principals and our community is so supportive,” Smith said. “We teach beyond the test and we do hands-on. By doing that, we don’t have to focus on TAKS. TAKS will take care of itself.”
While Smith said the district is excited about its Recognized rating, he also had some mixed emotions because all the campuses were close to being Exemplary.
“Our elementary missed Exemplary by one student,” Smith said. “We were 90 percent in all areas except in one of our target areas. We are appealing that [to the TEA].”
For now, Smith said the teachers continue to come up with different techniques and strategies for the continued success of the district.
“Every year, our teachers work smarter and get better information,” Smith said. “Not only are they content experts and curriculum experts, they can analyze the data. We can’t ask them to work harder, they already are.”
Although Blue Ridge ISD maintained its same Academically Acceptable rating as last year, the district did make some improvements. Last year, Blue Ridge High School was rated Academically Unacceptable and Blue Ridge Elementary School was rated Recognized. This year, the high school received an Academically Acceptable rating and the elementary school received an Exemplary rating.
Jim Shurtleff, Blue Ridge ISD superintendent, said he was pleased to see the improvements in the two campuses.
“We were glad to see we could get to our goal and got our high school back to Acceptable,” Shurtleff said. “A lot of hard work and diligence in a lot of people.”
Shurtleff said the district was very close to receiving a Recognized rating.
“Our middle school was one percentage point away from being Recognized and our district was seven percentage points from Recognized,” Shurtleff said.
For next school year, Shurtleff said the district will continue on the path it’s going and he anticipates success in the future.
“We know we’re doing the right thing and we’re continuing to build on them,” Shurtleff said.
Contact staff writer Stefanie White at swhite@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.
The 2007 accountability ratings were released Tuesday by the Texas Education Agency. Anna ISD, Blue Ridge ISD, Farmersville ISD, Princeton ISD and Prosper ISD all remained Academically Acceptable while Melissa ISD was once again a Recognized district.
Jason Smith, Melissa ISD superintendent, said the district is pleased with receiving a Recognized rating again, with all three of its schools keeping Recognized ratings.
“We were very excited about that,” Smith said.
Smith said the teachers, students and administrators contributed to the Recognized rating.
“We feel like we have a special group of teachers and principals and our community is so supportive,” Smith said. “We teach beyond the test and we do hands-on. By doing that, we don’t have to focus on TAKS. TAKS will take care of itself.”
While Smith said the district is excited about its Recognized rating, he also had some mixed emotions because all the campuses were close to being Exemplary.
“Our elementary missed Exemplary by one student,” Smith said. “We were 90 percent in all areas except in one of our target areas. We are appealing that [to the TEA].”
For now, Smith said the teachers continue to come up with different techniques and strategies for the continued success of the district.
“Every year, our teachers work smarter and get better information,” Smith said. “Not only are they content experts and curriculum experts, they can analyze the data. We can’t ask them to work harder, they already are.”
Although Blue Ridge ISD maintained its same Academically Acceptable rating as last year, the district did make some improvements. Last year, Blue Ridge High School was rated Academically Unacceptable and Blue Ridge Elementary School was rated Recognized. This year, the high school received an Academically Acceptable rating and the elementary school received an Exemplary rating.
Jim Shurtleff, Blue Ridge ISD superintendent, said he was pleased to see the improvements in the two campuses.
“We were glad to see we could get to our goal and got our high school back to Acceptable,” Shurtleff said. “A lot of hard work and diligence in a lot of people.”
Shurtleff said the district was very close to receiving a Recognized rating.
“Our middle school was one percentage point away from being Recognized and our district was seven percentage points from Recognized,” Shurtleff said.
For next school year, Shurtleff said the district will continue on the path it’s going and he anticipates success in the future.
“We know we’re doing the right thing and we’re continuing to build on them,” Shurtleff said.
Contact staff writer Stefanie White at swhite@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.
Copyright © 2013 - Star Local News