Fort Bend ISD Meets State Standards, Two Schools Need Improvement

SUGAR LAND, TX — All but two of the campuses in Fort Bend ISD met the state's standards, according to accountability ratings recently released by the Texas Education Agency.

Although the overall district met state standards, two of the district's campuses wound up on the state's list of low performing schools.

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 campuses that didn't hit all of the state's marks were Briargate and Ridgemont elementary schools. Briargate fumbled on student achievement — getting a 47 when it needed a 60. The school also dropped the ball in student performance, missed the needed 32 by one, and closing performance gap — needed 28 got 22.

Briargate was able to put one in the W column by getting 17, needed 12, in postsecondary readiness. Ridgemont also missed on student achievement, needed 60 got 51, and closing performance gaps, needed 28 got 23. Ridgemont did squeak through on postsecondary readiness with the needed 12 and crushed student progress, got 40 needed 32.

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.