In the Houston area, 11 school districts have campuses that received the Texas Education Agency’s lowest accountability rating in 2017.
These campuses, ranging from elementary to high school, have been marked “Improvement Required” for at least one year. This means they failed to meet at least three accountability indexes for one year or more.
If a campus receives the “Improvement Required” rating for five consecutive years, the TEA can either close the campus or take over its operation.
Klaire Padgett, 6, and 7-year-old Daxton Stanton, both in first grade, explore the rudiments of coding with a block-based robotics construction system in their school library at Ed White E-STEM in El Lago, part of Clear Creek ISD. The library, which hosts technology clubs, maker spaces and has a 3-D printer, is the innovative domain of school librarian Tamiko Brown — who considers herself a STEM librarian. She was named the 2017 School Librarian of the Year by the School Library Journal.
The campuses in this report are from Aldine, Alief, Conroe, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hempstead, Hitchcock, Houston, Pasadena, Spring and Spring Branch school districts.
To be rated Met Standard, a campus must meet either the Student Achievement or Student Progress standard, plus both Closing Performance Gaps and Postsecondary Readiness standards.
Schools that have been designated Improvement Required must submit a turnaround plan to the state. These plans are closely monitored, and the campuses receive extra support from both school district and state officials in order to improve as quickly as possible.