Seven HISD Schools Successfully Appeal Ratings

[VicMan]

http://www.houstonisd.org/HISD/portal/arti...7983787,00.html

Seven Houston ISD schools have successfully appealed their ratings and have received higher ratings.

The following schools went from unacceptable to acceptable:

* R.P. Harris Elementary School

* Johnston Middle School

* Welch Middle School

* E.O. Smith Education Center (K-8)

* Lee High School

In addition, Lanier Middle School went from acceptable to recognized, and T.H. Rogers Middle School went from recognized to exemplary (T.H. Rogers' Elementary division has been rated as exemplary).

But poor Poe and Longfellow remain unacceptable.

[Guest danax]

Blame the students and parents not the schools. I know the rating system might get some lazy faculty off of their behinds but how well a school tests depends on how well the students study, which is what students are supposed to do. Demographics have more to do with how well a school "rates" than anything, and that is one thing a school has no control over.

Blaming schools for poor test results is like blaming a screenwriter or director for a movie getting bad reviews, when the actors used were a combination of lazy amateurs who didn't speak the language, we're doing drugs, didn't show up half of the time or, if they did, were just goofing off and refused to learn their lines properly.

An interesting experiment would be to have schools exchange entire student bodies each year, while maintaining the same faculties, and watch how the ratings would shift as well.

[KatieDidIt]

Blame the students and parents not the schools. I know the rating system might get some lazy faculty off of their behinds but how well a school tests depends on how well the students study, which is what students are supposed to do. Demographics have more to do with how well a school "rates" than anything, and that is one thing a school has no control over.

Blaming schools for poor test results is like blaming a screenwriter or director for a movie getting bad reviews, when the actors used were a combination of lazy amateurs who didn't speak the language, we're doing drugs, didn't show up half of the time or, if they did, were just goofing off and refused to learn their lines properly.

An interesting experiment would be to have schools exchange entire student bodies each year, while maintaining the same faculties, and watch how the ratings would shift as well.

Well, the Rodgers school is ONLY for children with disabilities and for those in the Vangaurd program. Vangaurd is the program for children that don't find the Gifted and Talented Program challenging enough, brainiacs. If the Vangaurd kids can't pull off good scores, we are all in trouble.

[VicMan]

Even with Poe's lousy rating (Poe's appeal did not work out), the Southhampton newspaper (of the neighborhood Southhampton, which is zoned to Poe) made an editorial (which has a letter from Poe's principal) explaining the reasons why the school got such a lousy rating as a way to defend the school. http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:fny7v...cceptable&hl=en

My point is that the HISD schools in West Central Houston should be glad that the neighborhoods are supporting them (which goes back to Katie's point about PTOs and the domino effect on teachers made in other threads). Also, the recent finance decision made by the Texas Supreme Court will hopefully cure any remaining budgeting woes.

EDIT: Another article on the rating stuff: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/bel...ws/3479491.html

Rogers' had to do with a special ed test.

Edited November 24, 2005 by VicMan