EPISD ratings show historic turnaround
(EL PASO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT -- Aug. 15, 2018) — EPISD showed tremendous growth and improvement and surpassed other large urban school districts in Texas, according to accountability figures released by the Texas Education Agency today.
EPISD numbers for the Spring 2018 administration of the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness and End of Course Exams show more students performed at the “Masters” or college-ready level than in 2017.
“We are building the best EPISD in our history,” Cabrera said. “I am proud of our dedicated teachers who have done an exceptional job of adapting modern and innovative methods of teaching. Thank you to our teachers and community who have supported our historic efforts over the past five years.”
In one subject, Algebra 1, the percentage growth at the Masters level was of 19 points. The results for EPISD are shown below:
“Our focus on Active Learning is making a difference in the classroom,” Cabrera said. “By concentrating on effective teaching, instead of test preparation, our students are learning at higher levels and organically performing better on the STAAR and EOC. I commend our teachers for embracing innovation and putting our students on a path to success.”
The TEA this year began awarding letter grades to school districts as part of a new accountability rating system. Based on the performance of students in the District, EPISD earned a score of 86 or a grade of a B (Recognized).
The state uses student performance, student growth and other factors like graduation rates to determine accountability ratings.
EPISD’s score of 86 is the highest for urban districts that serve overwhelmingly large numbers of low-income students.
Accountability for individual campuses will not be released by the state until January, but preliminary results indicate all traditional EPISD campuses have met state standards — including those campuses that were rated as “Improvement Required” by the TEA last year.
“EPISD has centered its instruction around effective and meaningful learning that has a long-lasting impact on the lives of our students,” Cabrera said. “Our teachers and students are benefiting from the innovative approaches to education our District has implemented over the past five years.”