Wednesday, May 8, 2024
During a regularly scheduled school board meeting Feb. 12, Assistant Superintendent Tammy Clark presented the district’s academic performance report, which shows much success across the board.
This comes after the Texas Academic Progress Report (TAPR) for 2022-23 numbers were released. GISD was given a B rating on the A through F rating system by the Texas Education Agency. The rating focuses on three different areas of the district including student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps. Student achievement measures whether students met expectations on the STAAR test. It also measures graduation rates and how prepared students are for success after high school. In this area, GISD score an 83. School progress shows how students perform over time and compares the district’s performance to others with similar student populations. GISD earned a score of 83 in school progress, as well. Closing the gaps shows how well a district is ensuring that all student groups are successful across the board; this was GISD’s weakest area with a score of 78. There were no schools in the district that were rated a D or an F.
GISD ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
For the third, fourth and fifth-grade levels, GISD students are above both the Region 11 and state averages in “passing percentages” and “masters grade level” rates in reading, mathematics and science subjects. Sixth grade students are above the region and state averages in both “passing percentages” and “masters grade level.” In sixth grade mathematics, GISD is at 39%, below the regional average of 42%. Seventh grade reading fell slightly below the region averages in “meets grade level” by 2% and “masters grade level” by 3%. Seventh grade mathematics rose above both the district and state levels as did eighth grade reading but saw a lower percentage of “meets grade level” for 2022 in mathematics as well as “masters grade level” both 2022 and 2023. Students scored at about the regional and state levels for eighth grade science and social studies.
High school students are required to take end of course tests, including English 1 and 2, algebra, biology and history. Both the English 1 and 2 subjects were successful for GISD students as were algebra, biology and history.
“We absolutely are outperforming the state and region in elementary, middle and high school in passing percentages for most of our academic areas,” Clark said during the meeting. “It’s really nice to see that with the new testing format, we’re still outperforming our counterparts.”
Clark also highlighted the area of the emerging bilingual population, which is both growing and still seeing high improvements in passing rates. She added that GISD students are performing better on the SATs and ACTs; the average SAT score for the state is 1001, while GISD’s is 1108. The state average for the ACT is 19.5; GISD’s average is 22.5. GISD AP exam results were also higher than the counterparts at the state level.
Some areas of improvement include the graduation rate for career and military readiness (CCMR) as well as dual credit course completion.
“Every single one of the campuses really highlighted that they were working on individualized instruction, and really pushing every kid forward on those growth measures,” Clark said.
ATTENDANCE/GRADUATION/DROPOUT RATES
According to Clark, attendance numbers are on the rise and getting closer to pre-COVID 19 numbers, but this is a continued area of focus for the district. The district also has higher graduation rates compared with both the region and state. Dropout numbers are lower compared to the region and state levels.
SAFETY IN SCHOOLS
Three incidents that violated the Safe Schools Act were noted: a felony controlled substance instance on campus, and two separate prohibited weapons on campus. Clark said the majority of disciplinary actions fell under the federal student code of conduct such as dress code-related issues.
“We are seeing rising levels of vaping and controlled substance use on campuses and that is part of our discipline that we are trying to tackle at this time, mostly at the secondary level,” Clark said.
There has been an increase in safety and security since the district added a floating marshal as well as a second marshal at each of the middle schools.
To view the entire report in full or to look at each individual campus, visit the GISD website at granburyisd.org.
