Pasadena ISD Meets State Standard, One School Misses One Category

PASADENA, TX — All of the campuses in Pasadena ISD met the state's standards, according to accountability ratings recently released by the Texas Education Agency.

Although the overall district met state standards, one of the district's campuses did miss the mark in one category.

The annual ratings are designed to provide a snapshot of a school's performance, but the system has come under fire for relying on scores from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exams — the latest model of Texas' high-stakes standardized tests.

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Given the problems that plagued this year's tests — glitches in online tests, testing materials being sent to other schools and in one case to a church, scores being attributed to the wrong schools, flimsy answer sheets — it's a stretch to think that this year's fill-in-the-blank could be used to measure anything other than how much money the state saved by switching vendors.

Expect legislation to change the ratings game to be introduced when the filing period opens at the end of the year. Given how much time is guaranteed to be devoted to the three "G's" of Texas state politics — gays, guns and God — whether or not education bills will get a hearing when the Lege gets back next year is a bit of a crap shoot.

The campus that didn't hit all of the state's marks was South Houston Elementary. It fumbled on student progress, only getting a 22 when it needed a 32. Despite wiffing on student progress, the school did meet state standards in the other three categories so isn't considered a low performing campus.

However, given the shortcomings of this year's tests perhaps River Pines Elementary should get a round of applause for even getting in the end zone, what with the goal line constantly shifting.