LTISD Info

I obtained a copy of Rocky’s August 11, 2009 letter to the TEA appealing the LTISD’s 2009 “academically acceptable” rating^TPIA.

Rocky is blaming the “academically acceptable” rating on four “Hispanic” students!

That’s right, four “Hispanic” students caused the LTISD to fail according to Rocky’s letter.

“After studying the completion status data of relevant students, the District has determined that the status of four students should be reconsidered. As you may know, in order for LTHS and, the District to achieve “Recognized” labels, the Completion Rate for the District’s Hispanic student group must be at least 84.15% for the District and the LTHS to meet the “Required Improvement” standard. The Hispanic student group Completion Rate reported by the Agency for LTHS (and thus the District) is 82.2%. If the Agency determines that the completion status of all four of the students discussed in this letter should be altered as the District requests, the Hispanic student group Completion Rate would increase to 86.7%. If the Agency determines that the completion status of just two of the four students should be altered as the District requests, the Hispanic student group Completion Rate would increase sufficiently to exceed the 84.15% necessary for “Required Improvement.”

Apparently Rocky wants to modify the completion status of these students so the district can be “recognized.”

“Also included, as Exhibit 8, is a chart providing detailed information regarding the effect that any modifications to the completion status and/or group placement of each of the students discussed in this letter would have on the Hispanic group completion rate of LTHS and of the District.”

(Unfortunately, I did not get a copy of Exhibit 8 names in Rocky’s letter to the TEA.)

Do you believe this? I for one do not.

Why can’t the LTISD achieve even higher “Completion Rates” for the district’s “Hispanic student group?”

Just how many students are considered as “Hispanic” in the LTISD?

According to last year’s Academic Excellence Indicator System report (the 2009 report is not available yet), the LTISD had 883 “hispanic” students in the district, 7.5% of the district’s 5,854 students. “Hispanic” students comprise an average of 47.2% of the students in the state of Texas.

Of these 883 “hispanic” students, only 27 were in the graduating class.

(Data from TEA, 2007-2008 Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) reports)

How hard is it to ensure a higher success rate for only 7.5% of the district’s students?

Why can’t a “property rich” district ensure that such a small percentage of the student population achieve much higher completion rates than the minimum state standards?

Whatever happened to “the most exemplary school district in Texas?”

If the LTISD successfully gets the TEA to overlook this supposed cause for the “academically acceptable” rating, that will mean that they would have barely achieved a “recognized” rating.