There is something missing from this story on HISD:
The percentage of Houston ISD students passing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills dropped for every grade level under this year’s tougher standards, the school district announced Wednesday.
Houston’s black and Hispanic students struggled the most as the gap separating the passing rates for those students and whites grew larger. While 62 percent of the Houston Independent School District’s white 10th-graders passed all four subjects tested on the TAKS, only 17 percent of blacks and 19 percent of Hispanics achieved the minimum standard.
What’s missing? Seventy-three percent of HISD students passed the harder TAKS reading test this year. Considering the make-up of HISD (eighty percent low income and thirty percent ESL), that’s a number to be proud of. Fifty-eight percent of HISD students passed the harder TAKS math test. Yes, that number can stand some improvement, but a majority of HISD students passed. Why not acknowledge that?
“Lead, follow or get out of the way” comes to mind here, and the usual suspects are the problem — those who don’t want any change. Dr. Saavedra is trying to remake HISD to provide a better education. Some media attention directed at the people and groups who steadfastly stand in his way is long overdue; and the students who worked hard to pass the TAKS tests should be congratulated, instead of being told they are in the worst school district in Texas.
