Several HISD schools have successfully appealed their TEA-determined school rankings:
The empty hallways at Johnston Elementary say nothing of the pride this school has — impressive young artists, state acknowledgements for writing and social studies and an award-winning performing arts program. So how could a school that consistently gets acceptable ratings from the TEA, now be unacceptable?
Principal Linda Balkin said, “It was like having a dark cloud over our heads for a while. It was tough on teacher morale.”
But on closer examination, it was discovered the TEA had made a mistake. The agency had given Johnston an unacceptable rating, based on false reports of student dropouts.
“We knew that one of those children, for example, had been away from school getting treatment for cancer,” Balkin explained.
HISD appealed, and Johnston, along with six other campuses, got improved ratings. Lanier Middle School moved from acceptable to recognized. And T.H. Rogers moved into ”exemplary status.” Five others, including Johnston, were removed from the list of unacceptables.
And what does this mean overall for HISD?
The moves mean that now 88 percent of HISD schools made the grade under the Texas accountability system in 2005, earning ratings of Acceptable or better. The successful appeals reduced the number of Unacceptable schools in HISD from 36 to 31.
Congratulations to the staff, students and parents of those schools!
