Muckraker pointed out the our own Silva Health Magnet High School was recently ranked the 10th best high school in Texas by Children at Risk a Texas based nonprofit that is trying to improve the lives of children. You can learn more about the group at childrenatrisk.org.
Silva was ranked as the 10th best high school in Texas! Fabulous! Congratulations!
For some reason the Times only pointed out that Silva had been given an “A” by the group. Personally I would have made it a front page article.
As it turns out there is a lot of information available about the performance of our schools. Children at risk uses the following factors in ranking the schools:
- TAKS Commended Reading (5%)
- TAKS Commended Math (5%)
- Recommended High School Program (2.5%)
- Advanced Courses (5%)
- AP/IB Test-Takers (5%)
- AP/IB Students Passing (5%)
- Attendance Rate (7.5%)
- Graduation Rate (15%)
- SAT/ACT Test-Takers (5%)
- Mean SAT Score (5%)
- Mean ACT Score (5%)
- Percent Economically Disadvantaged (20%)
- Reading Gain/Loss (7.5%)
- Math Gain/Loss (7.5%)
It seems that much of their data comes directly from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). We might want to argue about some of the metrics and their weightings but at least they apply them consistently in evaluating the schools.
Here are the results of their 2013 analysis of our high schools in the county:
| CAMPUS | 2013 RANK | SCORE |
| Silva Health Magnet | 10 | A |
| Clint H S | 105 | B |
| Del Valle Hs | 108 | B |
| Coronado H S | 195 | B |
| Bel Air Hs | 222 | B |
| Riverside Hs | 273 | B |
| Fabens H S | 331 | B |
| Eastwood Hs | 363 | B |
| Franklin H S | 371 | B |
| Anthony H S | 377 | B |
| El Dorado H S | 390 | C |
| Mountain View H S | 405 | C |
| Horizon H S | 433 | C |
| Socorro H S | 467 | C |
| Burges H S | 492 | C |
| San Elizario H S | 505 | C |
| Chapin H S | 530 | C |
| Montwood H S | 533 | C |
| Tornillo H S | 538 | C |
| J M Hanks Hs | 552 | C |
| El Paso H S | 554 | C |
| Jefferson H S | 573 | C |
| Parkland Hs | 614 | C |
| Americas H S | 669 | C |
| Ysleta Hs | 705 | C |
| Austin H S | 986 | C |
| Canutillo H S | 1,002 | D |
| Irvin H S | 1,042 | D |
| Bowie H S | 1,046 | D |
| Andress H S | 1,047 | D |
They ranked 1,171 high schools in Texas. Getting ranked above 586 puts a high school in the bottom half of the list.
Here is how the average EPISD high school ranks compared with the other big city school districts in the state:
DISTRICT AVERAGE RANK
El Paso 622
Houston 665
Austin 681
Dallas 695
Fort Worth 902
San Antonio 932
So what is the TEA commissioner so upset about? EPISD had a crook, he is now in jail. El Paso outscored all of those big city districts.
I plan to write about other metrics used to evaluate these schools to show how the schools compare with each other.
I would hope that word will get around and that the parents of children in the under-performing schools will get involved in improving performance. The numbers will show that community involvement and attitudes greatly affect how well our children do. It is up to us to see to it that these students do better.
As for all of the schools that ranked in the bottom half of the state, and especially those above 900, for the children I say:
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
I think it is pretty obvious by now that the ESM (English Speaking Media) in El Paso will simply not print anything that paints EPISD in a positive light. They are controlled by the crowd that is running the Kids First PAC (El Paso “Progressives” whatever that means) and that group thinks EPISD is run by overpaid green pea spewing demons. Therefore, the ESM thinks EPISD is run by green pea spewing demons.
Sadly, the TEA Commissoner is looking at this crowd as “true representatives” of the public and took their word to appoint the current Board of Managers. There was no public input, save for probably reading the El Paso Times comment section. HE also is a grandstander and likes to do “big media friendly” things that draw a lot of attention to himself because he plans on running for statewide office again. What better way to prove your Tea Party Street cred than by taking down a public school district?
Want to change how the public perceives EPISD? Start at the editors desk of the Times and then with our “progressive” elected officials. That is where it all starts.
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because this was never about the children, Brutus. Come on! It was pure, nasty, filthy politics.
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