Not all Austin area schools passing national standards
You might remember Johnston High School closing over the summer due to failing TAKS test scores. That's flunking out at the state level.
Now, school officials are finding out only 85 percent of schools in the Austin Independent School District are making adequate progress on the national front.
That number is up from the 83 percent last year.
AISD Accountability Director Anne Ware said that's a good thing.
"A school may have a 53 percent passing rate one year and a 58 percent the next, and it's still not quite making the mark," she said. "But a 5 percent increase in the passing rate is phenomenal."
There's more to these results than looking at their face value.
This year was the first time the special education students were tested at their grade level.
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Some schools' officials said that makes a difference in overall scores.
"That is a higher standard, so that may be the reason for some of the districts," Ware said.
Schools that didn't meet the standards will notify parents about
the availability of tutoring and the possibility of transferring their student to another school.
There are some things parents can do, too.
"If they're not involved, become involved. If they are, become more involved, there's a lot going on in their schools. It's improving every year and I think parents should support those efforts," Ware said.
This was the fifth consecutive year Travis and Reagan High Schools did not make adequate progress.
Those schools are beginning to implement a reconstruction plan as the former Johnston High School did.
Some schools didn't meet standards at the state level but did at the national level and vice versa.
School officials hope over time the standards will be the same.