Wall ISD No. 1 in Statewide Ranking

Since the beginning of the year, national education agencies have published their annual rankings on Texas school districts and its education system. Recently, in Education Week’s Quality Counts 2016 report released in January,Texas ranks 43^rd in student chance for success, K-12 achievement and school finance. In the core areas of math, science and language, Texas ranks 49.

However, locally, Wall Independent School District received high state and national rankings.

Bryce Hall, Head of Outreach for Teacher.org, stated that in Teacher.org's annual ranking for "Top Teacher Supporting School Districts in Texas", Wall ISD ranked #1 in the state out of 419 total districts reviewed. 



“Texas school districts were assessed on several factors which represent how well a school district supports their teachers. Some criteria included: class size, administrator and support staff availability, and student proficiency levels,” Hall said.

Hall added that the information can be found here, and more information on the organization’s methodology can be found at 
http://www.teacher.org/school-district-ranking-methodology.

Superintendent Walter Holik, Jr. said he heard about the ranking yesterday. He was in meetings when he learned the news and did some research to find out more.

“It’s great,” said Holik. “It picks out some areas we have always tried to achieve here at Wall. We try to keep our student-to-teacher ratio low, and our support for our teachers, and various things we do to help teachers in the classroom, are key to our success out here.”

Holik also said this ranking is a great accomplishment for the school district.

“It’s an accolade we take very seriously, and it’s something we’ve always strived for,” he stated.

Holik added that it’s great being recognized overall, and as for suggestions he might give other districts to improving their own rating is simple. He said Wall ISD has always emphasized academics first because the rest will come with it.

“We stress the academic side of it, the low-teacher ratios, and giving teachers the opportunity to be successful in the classroom—that would be my recommendation,” noted Holik.

The Superintendent said by making sure to put academics at the top of the list, educators can allow the other things to “flow with it.“

“They all work hand in hand. Eventually, they will be as successful as we are,” Holik said.

With the low rankings in the core learning areas in Texas, Holik said this ranking does say something because, at Wall ISD, there is a strong emphasis in these core areas.

“We have a large percentage of our students take the ACT test, and we emphasize math, reading, science and the social sciences that are covered by ACT,” explained Holik. “It’s very important that our kids excel in those areas. Nationally, we rank two percentage points above the national average for ACT scores, so it shows we’re emphasizing those areas and requiring our students to excel in [those areas].”

Holik said Wall ISD has an overall graduation rate is somewhere between 99 and 100 percent, on average, and it stays that way every year.

Holik said, however, he and his staff are humbled and proud about Wall ISD’s current rankings.

“We appreciate that we’re being recognized for the hard work that our teachers do, and it’s a community and teacher school district; it all works together,” he stated. “We also have a strong backing by our parents. The parent role is the number one factor. When you put all things together, having parents involved is huge. We have tremendous parent involvement.”

As for other area districts, San Angelo ISD ranked #229 out of the 419; Grape Creek and Water Valley ISDs were not included in the rankings. Abilene ranked #80.

Additionally, Great Schools gave San Angelo ISD a 5 out of 10 rating, and according to U.S. News & World Report Education, based on 2015 academic indicators, 16.8 percent of students at Central H.S. are prepared for college, while 5.3 percent of Lake View High School students are deemed college ready.

Jamie Highsmith, public information officer for SAISD, said the state rankings of 43^rd and 49^th occur when a report “doesn’t compare apples to apples.”

“Texas has an accountability system which is not shared by other states; furthermore, the new accountability system is in a phase-in process, which is not in its final phase,” said Highsmith. “Once completely phased in, most all gaps will close.”

Highsmith noted that the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) State Profiles for Texas, which contains a summary of 4^th and 8^th grade math and reading results across several years, shows that Texas is ahead of the nation in much of the profile. Review that information here.

“A look at SAISD percentages from the 2014/2015 TAPR (Texas Academic Performance Report) indicates the following results,” explained Highsmith. “The first column is the state, the second column is our region, and the third column is SAISD”: 
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Highsmith said when it comes to education, quality is a somewhat subjective term. 

“Using a simple measure to rank thousands of schools really can’t accurately indicate which schools are “better” than others. For example, the College Readiness measure in U.S. News and World Report is based on 12^th graders only who took Advanced Placement tests,” she said. “In fact, 25 percent of that rating is based on test participation, while 75 percent of the score is based on test outcomes.”

Highsmith noted that SAISD definitely offers AP testing, but that is not the district’s sole means of providing students opportunities for college credit while in high school. 

“For example, 1,499 students are enrolled in dual credit courses at Howard College; 321 students are enrolled in academic dual credit and 1,325 in technical dual credit,” she said. “There is considerably more to measure than the numbers and outcomes of AP test takers.” 

Highsmith said SAISD has a solid curriculum, which not only follows state requirements, but also adds academically rigorous enrichment. 

She stated, “Our administrators and faculty will continue to follow our curriculum and utilize the outcomes of benchmark testing and state mandated testing to refine areas that need improvement in all areas of learning.”