High Academic Performance Continues;ERG Ranking Top 9% Academically

At January's School Board meeting, Dr. Cloyd Hastings, the district's executive director for assessment and accountability, presented the 2011 Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report, required by the Texas Education Agency.  The 2010-2011 school year was the last time for TAKS; C-FB ISD along with other Texas school districts are under a new accountability system which includes STAAR and end-of-course exams.  The accountability ratings that C-FB ISD and our individual schools earned in 2010-2011 will remain in effect for two years.  However, we will still monitor student achievement on the state performance system as well as other measurements.

Although the community and staff may have seen most of the data before, the report reminds us of the tremendous academic performance of C-FB ISD students.  Our educational team is to be commended for the continuous high achievement of our students. 

Our district is a Recognized School District under the AEIS.  The state accountability system is very complex. In fact, there are three methods the system uses to determine a rating:  1)  an absolute standard, 2)  an improvement standard or 3) an exceptions provision.  C-FB ISD earned the 2011 Recognized Rating through the absolute standard - the highest of all three options.

The AEIS data sources include the TAKS in all subjects in grades 3 through 11 which includes the following tests:

• Reading/English Language Arts
• Writing
• Mathematics
• Social Studies
• Science



Gold = Exemplary Standard; Blue = Recognized Standard



We have 30 TAKS performance indicators in the AEIS. In looking at the chart, you can see that our student performance in 2011 moved toward the Exemplary rating requirements. In fact, our students met the Exemplary standard for 18 indicators and the Recognized standard for 11 indicators. 

The district received two Gold Performance Acknowledgments (GPA) from the agency.  These acknowledgements recognize districts and campuses for high academic performance on various indicators.  For the second year, we were recognized for "college-ready graduates."  What an outstanding accomplishment for our teachers, principals and instructional team since this is part of our district's vision.

The second GPA recognized the percent of students receiving the commended status for TAKS Social Studies. Over an eight-year period, we have seen the percent of students earning commended status climb every year.  For 2011, 54% of our students taking the social studies test earned the commended level. Congratulations to our students and their teachers for a job well done.

Education Resource Group Update
Along with the state-required system, C-FB ISD also uses the Education Resource Group (ERG), an organization that focuses on public education performance management. A Focus Points in October highlighted how we are using the ERG data to move C-FB ISD's goal of high achievement for all students forward. What we like about ERG is how it integrates academic and financial measures into a relatively clear framework of performance management.

As a reminder, ERG has three indexes: Academic Performance Index, Financial Performance Index, and an Educational Performance Index (which is an overall value). For the 2010-2011 school year, ERG has just released its Academic Performance Index (API). C-FB ISD remained seventeenth among the 200 largest school districts in Texas.  These results place C-FB ISD in the top 9% in academic performance of the 200 largest school districts, which account for more than 81% of the students in Texas. When the 2010-11 financial data has been analyzed by ERG, the district will give you an update about the Financial Performance Index and Educational Performance Index. 

This Academic Performance ranking by ERG performance system is a tremendous accomplishment for C-FB ISD teachers, principals and staff.  They along with our students should be commended for the outstanding work they have done in academic performance.  Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District is a bright spot in public education for its academic performance. 


To review the PowerPoint shown at the January School Board meeting, please click here:
AEIS Report 2011


You can also see the School Board Meeting from January 12, 2012 by visiting the district's Vimeo Channel:
C-FB ISD School Board Meeting: January 12, 2012