TAKS numbers in, you do the math

Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test, which determines whether students advance and rates school districts for performance, can be a confusing issue.

Students must make a 70 percent or higher to pass the TAKS and they have three attempts to do so. Sounds pretty simple, but not so when you look at the overall campus numbers.

The Texas Education Agency posts all school districts TAKS ratings on its Web site.

The rating system is simple: to pass the state standards, a campus must have a rating of "Academically Acceptable," "Recognized" or "Exemplary." But when the final numbers are posted it's not always clear how the state came up with those ratings.

Dr. Liz Jodry-Gatons, Kilgore ISD director for accountability issues, curriculum and grants, said once the numbers are in for each district, the state uses what is called the "Texas Projection Measure" (TPM) which determines the final rating score for each campus.

KISD has four campuses that are rated: Kilgore High School, Maude Laird Middle School, Kilgore Intermediate School and Chandler Elementary School.

To look at how each of those campuses were rated, one must understand that the overall rating is determined by five cate- gories: all students, African American students, Hispanic students, white students and economically disadvantaged students.

For each category, the campus is given a rating based on its students' TAKS scores, and another rating based on the statistical analysis of those scores, which is calculated per the TPM.

At Kilgore High School, students were tested in reading, social studies, mathematics and science. Each category of students is given a score. In reading, "all students" received a 90 percent rating; African American students, 90 percent; Hispanic students, 82 percent; White students, 92 percent; and economically disadvantaged students, 82 percent. But when TPM was used, those same groups, in the same order, became 96, 96, 91, 98 and 94 percent.

The TPM scores are used to give KHS its campus rating, so in reading the campus was rated Exemplary. Without TPM, the campus would only rate as Recognized because every student category must be above 90 percent for the Exemplary rating.

To receive an overall campus rating of Recognized or Exemplary, all tested subjects must meet those standards.

KHS's TPM scores in social studies were: 97 percent, all students; 96 percent, African American; 98 percent, Hispanic; 99 percent, white; and 95 percent, economically disadvantaged.

In math and science, the passing percentile for academically acceptable is 55 percent for math and 50 percent for science.

In mathematics, KHS received: 84 percent, all students; 77 percent, African American; 76 percent, Hispanic; 89 percent, white; and 76 percent, economically disadvantaged. In science, KHS scores were: 84 percent, all students; 64 percent, African American; 77 percent, Hispanic; 92 percent, white; and 72 percent, economically disadvantaged.

One must note that KHS, even without the TPM calculation, would still have been rated Academically Acceptable.

Maude Laird Middle School students are tested in five subjects: reading, writing, social studies, mathematics and science. The following results are all TPM scores.

In reading, MLMS scored 99 percent, all students; 98 percent, African American; 97 percent, Hispanic; 99 percent, white; and 98 percent, economically disadvantaged.

In writing, the MLMS scores were: 98 percent, all students; 99 percent, African American; 98 percent, Hispanic; 98 percent, white; and 98 percent, economically disadvantaged.

MLMS social studies scores were: 99 percent, all students; 99 percent, African American; 98 percent, Hispanic; 99 percent, white; and 99 percent, economically disadvantaged.

In mathematics, MLMS students scored: 94 percent, all students; 88 percent, African American; 94 percent, Hispanic; 95 percent, white; and 91 percent, economically disadvantaged.

In science, scores were: 82 percent, all students; 62 percent, African American; 71 percent, Hispanic; 92 percent, white; and 70 percent, economically disadvantaged. Let it be noted that MLMS would have been an Academically Acceptable campus without the TPM revisions.

Kilgore Intermediate School was tested in reading, writing, mathematics and science. The following results are after TPM calculations.

In reading, KIS students scored: 92 percent, all students; 82 percent, African American; 92 percent, Hispanic; 95 percent, white; and 85 percent economically disadvantaged.

In writing, scores were: 99 percent, all students; 94 percent, African American; 99 percent, Hispanic; 99 percent, white; and 98 percent, economically disadvantaged.

KIS mathematics scores were: 91 percent, all students; 82 percent, African American; 92 percent, Hispanic; 93 percent, white; and 86 percent, economically disadvantaged.

In science, the scores were: 86 percent, all students; 65 percent, African American; 85 percent, Hispanic; 92 percent, white; and 79 percent, economically disadvantaged.

KIS would have also been rated Academically Acceptable without the TPM revisions.

Chandler Elementary School students were tested in two subjects — reading and mathematics — but they exceeded in those two subjects. Chandler received a Recognized campus rating and did so without the help of the TPM.

In reading, Chandler scored: 92 percent, all students; 83 percent, African American; 84 percent, Hispanic; 97 percent, white; and 89 percent, economically disadvantaged.

In mathematics students scored: 86 percent, all students; 79 percent, African American; 80 percent, Hispanic; 91 percent, white; and 83 percent, economically disadvantaged.

With TPM, a campus can be elevated one rating; Chandler fell only two groups short of an Exemplary rating under TPM and that was by a total of 9 percentage points.

Jodry-Gatons said she is proud of the strides each campus is making and the students are continuing to work hard in all areas to improve their scores.

Things are going to get tougher, though, as Jodry-Gatons reports this year the standards are being set higher for eighth graders and the score to achieve Recognized campus is going from 75 to 80 percent.

For more information or to view these scores, visit TEA's Web site.