Small High Schools Do Better in Texas Rankings
In a new statewide ranking of public schools, the Dallas Independent School District dominates the top of the list. Though long considered the state’s most troubled urban system, DISD boasts seven small high schools in the state’s top 25 — six of them housed in the same building, the Townview Magnet Center, and all of them with selective admissions.
And yet Dallas ISD dominates the bottom of the list, too, with 18 high schools in the bottom quarter of the state rankings, and 14 of those in the bottom 10th, including three of the state’s five worst schools ...
Comments (5)
Martha
"DISD boasts seven small high schools in the state’s top 25 — six of them housed in the same building, the Townview Magnet Center, and all of them with selective admissions."
So why isn't this article about selective admissions being the key to a successful high school?
Amanda Elizabeth McAdams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Personally, I like smaller schools. You don't have to worry about being late to classes because your next class is across campus. In the smaller school I'm at most of my classes are in one maybe two buildings. It makes life easier!!
bbetzen
Tragically this article does not hint at the fact that the "statewide ranking of public schools" they speak of is based on 2007 dropout data and other data that is all over 2 years old. For schools dealing with today's two years of history since then this data is almost useless. For example, Pinkston High School in Dallas is ranked at the bottom of this list. It is allegedly the worst high school in Texas. In 2007 things certainly were much worse! The Cumulative Promotion Index for Pinkston had dropped to only 23.4% that year. However, by 2009, it had risen to 37.9%. That is still not good, but a significant improvement.
Also, in 2009, Pinkston handed out diplomas to the largest class in the history of the school, over 175 graduates! Then, this current school year, Pinkston has the largest 11th and 12th grade enrollments on record! This improvement is NOT due to increased enrollment as the total school enrollment is the lowest in 5 years. Something is changing! Students are thinking more about their futures and planning and working accordingly!
If the data used in this statewide ranking were current it would NOT show Pinkston at the bottom of the list. We are certainly not at a place we want to brag about yet, but we are making documented progress toward the only goals that count in today's education world.
Please, when the data used is several years old, say that in the article reporting on the data! If you want to see the enrollment history data on Pinkston going back to 1997 look at the enrollment by grade spreadsheet at http://www.studentmotivation.org/DallasISD/#pinkston. It shows the progress!
Rhonda Hutchison
Thanks bbetzen for sticking up for Pinkston - you are right, current data tells a whole new story!
My comments on the article: DISD's representative said, "Part of the success of the magnets is that some students don’t get in." A little known fact about the Dallas magnet program is that they do not set their own enrollment caps - the District does. Magnet proponents have been asking to expand their programs for years - not just more students at their own schools, or as add-on programs in a megaschool, but as more full-fledged programs (with a principal and counselor). If a school community - parents, teachers, community advocates - wants to create magnet programs at their campuses, there should be a plan in place that lets them do it.
The DISD rep also said, "We’re talking about schools that have been underperforming a long time, and students that have been underperforming a long time." Another little known fact is that most of Dallas' magnet high schools accept kids with scores that are well below average. Although two schools require 80th percentile test scores as a minimum, all the other magnet programs - both on the Townview campus and elsewhere - require only 40th percentile scores. Some schools will take in students with even lower scores than that - students who are "underperforming."
When the Molina High School prinicipal was reporting to the DISD Board of Trustees about how big gains were being made at her school, she said something very profound. She said that the first thing they had to do was to recognize that "underperforming" students was primarily an adult problem, not a student problem. Once they "owned" that, plans of action began to produce good results.
Dallas kids are smart. They can learn, and they can achieve. Can we engage and inspire them? That's the challenge.
Rhonda Hutchison
Sorry - I think I got the school wrong for the secondary principal I referenced. I'll go diving into my notes from watching the School Board Briefings to find out which comprehensive school that was. I hope her report is on one of the Board's podcasts - it was very inspiring.