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Houston & Texas Schools Failing to Keep Pace with National ‘No Child Left Behind’ Standard

Posted byHoumanitarian

(Ericka Mellon, Houston Chronicle)
Nearly all the school districts and some elite schools in the Greater Houston area failed to meet tougher federal academic targets this year, confusing parents, frustrating educators and prompting calls for changes to the No Child Left Behind law.

Preliminary data released Wednesday by the Texas Education Agency show that 71 percent of districts and nearly half of all schools statewide are falling short under the federal system.

The failures spiked sharply from last year, when a quarter of the state’s schools were unable to meet the standard, called “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP.

Debbie Ratcliffe, a TEA spokeswoman, urged parents not to panic.

“Parents need to think about all the other information they know about their schools when they judge the quality of them,” she said. “This year to meet AYP, schools had to be performing at the equivalent of about a B-plus level, and that’s a long way from failing.”

In the Houston Independent School District, the largest in the state, the number of failing campuses more than doubled since last year to 169. Only 36 percent of the district’s schools met the federal standards. The ratings are based on standardized test scores in reading and math, graduation rates and student attendance.
(Read more of this story at the Houston Chronicle)

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