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McKinney ISD fails to meet federal AYP standards
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
More than 40 percent of McKinney ISD campuses failed to meet the federal adequate yearly progress (AYP) standards required by the No Child Left Behind Act.
The Texas Education Agency released each school district's results last week, and 13 of the 31 evaluated McKinney ISD campuses missed AYP. Ten of 30 evaluated campuses missed in 2011, and the district as a whole missed AYP standards for the second straight year.
Though district officials are ever eager to improve their schools' success, in light of the still-new, more stringent State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STARR) test, they are not panicking.
"I'd be lying if I said I think a one-size-fits-all approach is appropriate, and I suspect any large-scale accountability system will always be debated on these merits."
As perhaps it should be, given statewide AYP results. Only 29 percent of Texas school districts and 44 percent of all campuses met AYP this year, down from the 50 percent of districts and 66 percent of campuses that met AYP last year.
Such a dip could be explained by increasingly difficult standards. This year, Texas districts had to show an 87 percent pass rate in reading and an 83 percent pass rate in mathematics, up from the 80 percent and 75 percent standards of a year ago.
District targets next year increase to 93 percent and 92 percent, respectively, and finally to 100 percent for both subjects in the 2013-2014 school year.
"It seems to me when you have a report card that indicates 71 percent of those districts graded failed is questionable," Sanderson said of the statewide trend. "Or it at least calls for a closer examination of the grading process."
All three high schools missed AYP standards for the second straight year. Evans Middle School was the only middle school to meet AYP both of the last two years, with Cockrill Middle School the other junior-high campus meeting AYP last year, and Faubion Middle School joining Evans in meeting the standards this year.
Elementary students again showed the highest percentage of success. Two-thirds of McKinney ISD elementary campuses, including Lawson Early Childhood Center, met AYP this year, compared to 75 percent last year.
Because the district missed AYP for the second straight year, officials must submit a district improvement plan to the state, and send letters to parents notifying them of the district's AYP results.
Slaughter, Malvern and Press elementary schools -- Title I campuses that receive School Improvement funds -- are now subject to Stage 1 requirements due to their missing AYP for a second consecutive year.
McKinney ISD seemingly has a more difficult time meeting the federal standards because of its size and diversity, which often lead to stricter assessment. McKinney ISD was evaluated on 33 of a possible 35 indicators, and needed to meet all 33, Sanderson said.
"The rules are written in such a way that the more diverse you are, the more accountable you are to the system," he said. "I think we can all agree to support high standards and expectations for our kids, but it needs to be tempered with some thoughtful dialogue around how we should define success."
But district officials are emphasizing they won't use district size or diversity as barriers to improvement. Deputy Superintendent Mary Clark said the district will "continue to strengthen its focus on curriculum, instruction and assessment to meet the expectation of rigor in the classroom."
"Our superintendent's message this year will be clear -- high expectations and no excuses," she said. "Whether we have AYP or not, we will not be satisfied until each child is successful."
Sanderson said the district made significant changes this summer to its short-cycle local assessments that are administered throughout the year to monitor students' mastery learning, a shift made in response to identified needs and one that will better allow teachers to target students who need additional reinforcement.
"I personally feel we have too many pieces of evidence which run counter to our AYP status to believe the 'McKinney ISD effect' is anything short of positive," he said. "We certainly have areas of improvement, and that systematically drives our annual continuous improvement cycle."
-Bill Conrad contributed to this report
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