TEA NUMBERS RATE SCHOOL DISTRICT GRADUATION RATES

Kilgore graduates 90 percent of its high school enrollees on schedule, a rate that ranks it at the top of schools in this area. When it’s time to hand out apples for student achievement, comparing apples to oranges can make it confusing.

Using online resources, the Kilgore News Herald has sifted through statistics in an effort to provide a comparative analysis of 10 area school districts in several specific categories.

There are literally hundreds of ways to compare data and break it down by grade level and subject matter – and it’s impossible to completely even the playing field in any diverse grouping.

However, according to 2008 accountability data pulled from the Texas Education Agency’s Ritter website, all the area school districts have their own unique strengths and weaknesses.

“Completion I” vs. ontime

graduation rate

While we have tabulated the graduation rates – for the state’s purposes, “graduated” refers to students graduating on time and with the class they started high school with – we have also included the Completion I rate.

Rebeca Cooper is director of research, planning and accountability for Longview Independent School District.

Cooper pointed to flaws in the data – “two years behind” – “It’s really hard for us to see the progress that we’re making quickly,” she said - and also to the fact that the state holds districts accountable for what’s known as Completion I – a statistic that combines the raw graduation rate with the number of “continued” students – those who return for a fifth year to either complete credits or prepare for the exit level TAKS tests students must pass to get a state-approved diploma.

Completion Rate I calculates the number of students that are “supposed to be” in your district, within the particular class “cohort” – that started with that class, and it tracks them even when they show up at another campus.

Simply looking at raw graduation rates doesn’t show the whole picture, she said.

“I’m worried that’s going to mislead people. Everybody’s held accountable for Completion Rate I to that 75 percent standard – Pine Tree, Spring Hill, everybody is. Completion Rate I is the standard that everyone in the state of Texas is held to unless you’re an alternative campus,” she said.

Test-passing rates referred to here are based on results from all students from grades 9-12, again from 2008, the most recent year available online.

Kilgore ISD

At Kilgore ISD (3,788 students), the district does a good job with disadvantaged students. More than half the Kilgore students are considered economically disadvantaged. Among that group, the on-time graduation rate is 90 percent – the highest among the districts sampled, and the dropout rate is 6.3 percent – tied with Henderson for the lowest.

Dropout rates are low in Kilgore – with just 1.9 percent of white students dropping out, a number locally surpassed only in Henderson ISD, with 1.6 percent of white students leaving school without a diploma.

Although test-passing rates among all students are average in Kilgore, the on-time graduation rates are fairly high, with 90 percent of the white students graduating on-time, 81 percent of the African American students graduating on-time and 100 percent of the Hispanic students graduating in the stated year.

“We’ve done a really good job of trying to communicate with parents,” said Superintendent Jody Clements, noting that individual efforts to work with students who are struggling to pass exit-level TAKS exams are paying dividends.

Clements said districts earning TEA “Recognized” honors can, in some cases, mask larger portions of struggling students “exempted” from state TAKS testing by declaring them “special ed.”

“If you look at the number of students they’re exempting for special ed, it’s a huge amount. We’ve gone the opposite direction,” he said, adding that Kilgore works to mainstream students some districts might lump into the special ed designation.

Clements notes that the Texas system of blanket honors – rank- ing districts as “Recognized” or “Exemplary” – will be phased out by the Texas Education Agency within two years, and replaced by a system in which districts are either “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable,” and then can earn individual distinctions in a number of areas, a system that may better reflect individual districts’ strengths.

In Kilgore ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 91.4 percent for African American students, 100 percent for Hispanic students, 97.4 percent for white students and 92.5 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

White Oak ISD

Three school districts on the list were ranked Recognized by TEA. Henderson, Tatum and White Oak earned the distinctions.

White Oak ISD (1,380 students, Recognized) has the lowest percentage of minority and economically disadvantaged students on the list, with just 3 percent of the student body designated African American and 4 percent Hispanic, and just 29 percent economically disadvantaged.

Test passing rates in those groups are impressive, with 78 percent for African American students, 82 percent for Hispanics and 82 percent for economically disadvantaged. However, the dropout rate for economically disadvantaged White Oak students is among the highest in the area, with one in five economically disadvantaged students, or 20 percent, dropping out.

The on-time graduation rates in White Oak are strong among all demographic groups except economically disadvantaged (75 percent), with 100 percent of African American and Hispanic students graduating on time and 90.8 percent of white students graduating on time.

In White Oak ISD, Completion Rate I stats are similar to their on-time graduation rates, with 100 percent for African American students, 100 percent for Hispanic students, 92.9 percent for white students and 75 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Henderson ISD

Henderson ISD (3,372 students, Recognized) appears to be doing much right. High on-time graduation rates among minorities and economically disadvantaged – 94 percent for African Americans, 93 percent for Hispanics, 89 percent for disadvantaged – helped the district earn its Recognized ranking from the state. However, among HISD minorities, the rates for all students passing TAKS are unimpressive – 54 percent for African American students (among the lowest of the area school districts sampled), 67 percent for Hispanic students, and 67 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Deputy superintendent Raylene Connor said Henderson’s strong rating with TEA reflects on the district’s overall academic program.

“We align our curriculum to the TEKS (state standards), we employ instruction strategies to meet the needs of individual students, we test what we teach,” she said, adding that individuals struggling with standardized testing are given individual intervention without holding students back.

To address dropout issues for those as risk of dropping out or who have already dropped out, the district has formed the PRIDE Academy, currently in its first year.

“It’s an alternative program. Students come for short periods, work at their own pace and complete their requirements,” Conner said.

In Henderson ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 98 percent for African American students, 92.9 percent for Hispanic students, 96.1 percent for white students and 93.8 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Tatum ISD

Among the Recognized districts, Tatum ISD (1,461, Recognized) appears to have relatively strong figures across the board.

That includes test passing rates at all levels – with numbers hovering around 70 percent for minorities and economically disadvantaged students, even when concentrations of those demographic groups closely resemble the Henderson numbers, and about 86 percent for white students.

On-time graduation rates in Tatum are similarly strong, with 93.5 percent among African American students, 94.1 percent among Hispanic students, 86 percent among white students and 85.1 among economically disadvantaged students.

Dropout rates in Tatum are highest among white and economically disadvantaged students (about 10 percent, still not that high) and half that or less among African American and Hispanic students.

In Tatum ISD, Completion Rate I stats run close to their on-time graduation rates, with 96.8 percent for African American students, 94.1 percent for Hispanic students, 89.5 percent for white students and 89.4 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Sabine ISD

Sabine ISD (1,290 students) has one of the higher concentrations of white students (77 percent of the student population), and one of the lower concentrations of economically disadvantaged students – 40 percent.

The graduation rate for white students is among the highest in the sample group – 93 percent – and the test passing rate for all African American students is relatively low – 56 percent, but the graduation rate listed for African American students, who compose just 9 percent of the student body at Sabine, is high, listed at 100 percent.

Sabine appears to do a remarkable job of helping students work on their GED, with 18.8 percent of the economically disadvantaged students receiving their GED in 2008, compared to most districts cited in our survey with rates of less than 2 percent, with the exception of White Oak, which listed 5 percent of students receiving GED.

Our survey did not to address GED completion rates directly, as the state now statistically considers students finishing their GED as having dropped out.

In Sabine ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 100 percent for African American students, 100 percent for Hispanic students, 92.9 percent for white students and 75 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Overton ISD

It’s possible that Overton ISD feels the age of the 2008 statistics the most of any of the districts sampled.

Overton is a small school district with just 520 students, and within the past couple years it has had a complete clean sweep of school leadership.

High school principal Stephen DuBose said he and the superintendent are both in their second year at OISD, the elementary principal is in the first year of service and the junior high school principal is in the third year of service.

And between 2008 and this school year, the Overton High School senior class increased in size from 26 to 48 students, a near-doubling that larger districts would be hard put to deal with.

“We’re quite a bit bigger than we were,” DuBose said.

In 2008, Overton had one of the highest concentrations of white students – 79 percent – but the lowest test-passing rates for white students, with 68 percent passing. Some 48 percent of Overton’s students were considered economically disadvantaged, and the test passing rate among them is the second lowest in the area, at 57 percent.

About 18 percent of OISD’s student body is African American, and the dropout rate among Overton’s African American students is the highest in the area, with 25 percent, or one in four students, dropping out.

Overton’s Hispanic population of just 3 percent of the relatively small student body is too small a group to include statistically, according to state guidelines.

The district is working on its dropout rate with TAKS labs, DuBose said. Small lab sizes – six to 10 students – mean more one-on-one attention, and a variety of computer-based programs help individuals work at their own pace to correct deficiencies.

Some, like Study Island, are Web-based and can be used by the students on their home computers. Tutorials are offered before and after school, DuBose said.

Additionally, a “credit recovery” program called “A-Plus” is helping students regain credits if they need to catch up to graduate.

DuBose said he is expecting good things to come from district-wide efforts to change and improve.

“I think the new scores will reflect this,” he said.

In Overton ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 75 percent for African American students, too few to sample among Hispanic students, 96.3 percent for white students and 88.9 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Pine Tree ISD

In Pine Tree ISD (4,648 students), despite low test passing rates of 49 percent for African American students, who make up 18 percent of the student body, the on-time graduation rate cited for the group rises to 81 percent. However, an on-time graduation rate of 62 percent for economically disadvantaged students is one of the lowest in the area.

In Pine Tree ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 91.5 percent for African American students, 94.9 percent for Hispanic students, 94.9 percent for white students and 89.1 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

West Rusk ISD

In West Rusk ISD (861 students), results are pretty good across the board. A relatively high percentage of the students are economically disadvantaged (63 percent.) However, their on-time graduation rate for economically disadvantaged is one of the highest in the area (88.5 percent), and the 3.8 percent dropout rate is the lowest of the 10 area school district sampled. On-time graduation rates are high and dropout rates are low across the board in West Rusk.

White students comprise 67.4 percent of the enrollment; of those, 92.3 percent graduated on time and just 2.6 percent dropped out. African American students represent 16.8 percent of the enrollment, and 100 percent of those graduated on time, with a zero dropout rate. Hispanic students represent 15.4 percent of the West Rusk student body, with 88.5 percent graduating on time and a zero dropout rate.

In West Rusk ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 94.4 percent for African American students, 100 percent for Hispanic students, 94.9 percent for white students and 96.2 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Tyler ISD

The more urban school districts of Tyler and Longview have low overall test-passing rates among their minority and disadvantaged students.

Tyler ISD (18,094 students) has an 86 percent test-passing rate among its white students (28 percent of the population) that ranks near the top of the list.

About 32 percent of the Tyler student body are African American, and their test-passing rate is 54 percent, with a 73 percent ontime graduation rate and a 15.4 percent dropout rate.

About 39 percent of the Tyler student population is Hispanic, and that group’s on-time graduation rate of 74 percent is accompanied by one of the highest dropout rates (15.4 percent) in the districts sampled.

With one of the highest rates of economically disadvantaged students in the area – 63 percent – the ontime graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students is fairly good – some 72.5 percent. The dropout rate for economically disadvantaged is still fairly high however, at 14.3 percent.

In Tyler ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 84 percent for African American students, 85.9 percent for Hispanic students, 94.6 percent for white students and 86.3 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Longview ISD

In Longview ISD, (8,235 students) fewer than 1 in 4 students are white. Longview has the highest percentage of African American students among the districts sampled – 47 percent. Longview also has the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students among the districts sampled, with 66 percent, or 2 out of 3, from low income homes.

The dropout rate of minority students in Longview is very high at 1 in 5 students, with almost 20 percent of black students dropping out, and almost 21 percent of the district’s Hispanic students leaving school without a diploma. The corresponding on-time graduation rates are low across the board, with 87.3 percent of white students, 62.3 percent of African American students and 59.5 percent of Hispanic students graduating on time. Just 58 percent of Longview’s economically disadvantaged students graduate on time.

In Longview ISD, Completion Rate I stats are 78.8 percent for African American students, 78.4 percent for Hispanic students, 90.8 percent for white students and 72.4 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

Rebeca Cooper said the district has strong new programs in place to help students be more successful.

“We’re excited you called, because we’re proactive about it,” she said Thursday.

About two years ago, LISD created a “dropout committee” to plan to improve dropout rates. As a direct result, a daycare program was put in place.

“We found that we have kids who were dropping out because they needed to stay home and take care of their children,” she said.

The district also started an optional flexible day, with a 3-6 p.m. time slot during which students can come in and earn credit online through various programs. The district tweaked the program with additional information and transportation after determining students in the program were missing important TAKS testing dates.

The district has a high percentage – about 15 percent or 1,200 students at all levels – of Limited English Proficiency students for whom dropping out was a problem. The district responded to the need with a Newcomers program, a class specifically for new immigrants. The program was relocated to the high school so students wouldn’t miss classes and get behind on credits.

“We’re really excited about that because our kids are learning English while learning content and earning credit,” Cooper said.

The district has already trained 300 teachers in “sheltered instruction training” which uses strategies and interventions to promote English-language acquisition while teaching critical content.

Additionally, a handbook in English and Spanish will help families of students in middle school and high school to prepare their kids for college and careers, while a new pilot Latino Family Literacy Project for families of LEP students will help parents learn English and develop family literacy habits that will benefit their children throughout their lives.