Dan Wever sent this in:
3rd Grade Reading last year compared to 4th Grade Reading test this year. These figures are for Spring Test both years. How can the EPISD say that only 2 schools had problems with scores like this. Did the EPISD post any results or did they just issue a press release tell us how good they are doing? Of course, not all of the same students are being tested as some moved or were not promoted or were new to the district but most were in EPISD for both years tests. The academic intervention for failing students does not seem to be working. 
😣
😭 In fact just plain teaching does not seem to be taking place.
😣😭 In fact just plain teaching does not seem to be taking place.
DID NOT MEET GRADE LEVEL (FAILED) Performance in this category indicates that students are unlikely to succeed in the next grade
or course without significant, ongoing academic intervention. Students in this category do not demonstrate a significant understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills.
The 3rd Grade Reading Test is probably the most important test in the STAAR series of accountability tests that are given by the State every year. There are many studies that say the first 3 years or grade school in a students education are the most important. There is data that shows if a child does not learn to read in these grades they do not do well in the rest of their education.
The 3rd Grade Reading test in 2016 was given to students that for the most part had studied and attended EPISD under the new REFORM EDUCATION MODEL that proponents say is so much better than the old Public Education model (whatever that is as they have a bunch of different names for it.)
With all of the Millions of Dollars spent on these Education Reform programs, I wondered just how good they really are.
I looked at last years results of 3rd-grade reading and they did not look so hot to me. The EPISD is supposed to provide “significant ongoing academic intervention” for the students that Fail but when I looked at this year’s 4th Grade (Same Students in 3rd last year for the most part) what I found was not acceptable to me. You can judge for yourself.
elpasospeak 
I don’t want to blow my own horn, but when I started 1st grade many, many years ago, my mother had already taught me to read at a 3rd grade level or above and to print the alphabet and many words. Perhaps what we need is more parental involvement in early childhood education and less reliance on the school system to start the child’s education (and to be a day care)!
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Many, many years ago when you and I were little tots, most mothers also were not employed outside the home in the workplace. If you were reading at that level, you were also probably ahead of more than 90% of your classmates, thanks to your mom.
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And as Dori says – “I did a GREAT job leading EPISD” sooo now let’s elect her to Congress
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Where’s Holt?
It’s obvious that these schools need new bathrooms!
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It’s pretty simple. Kids are not going to read staring at TV screens and smartphones 90% of the time that they are not in class or asleep. Texting and emoticons also undermine good grammar and spelling. Next they’re not going to be able to speak and converse because even their parents are staring at their iPhones all the time, even when the family goes out to dinner.
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We have to “learn” them better 🙂
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Tim will be here shortly. It takes time to get his responses approved. Anyway, I am not surprised. The key word for teachers is for the kids to have “Fun!” No kidding! Academics upsets parents who yell at EPISD who yells at principals who yell at teachers about “Customer Service.” No Kidding! Teachers at Coronado were asked why they were teaching the first week! Let them have fun and slowly bring them into the curriculum (which is another fiasco). Vote Dori!
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Tim might not show up this time as these scores point to his blended learning programs not doing too well. These students have been under the direction of Cabrera their whole school lives and do not seem to be taking to the Education Reform models they have been given. What a shame.
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Dan, weren’t you President of the School Board or on the board around 2003-04 or thereabouts? How were the TAKS scores while you were in charge of steering the ship? Seems as if I recall they weren’t all that great. I found this quote online:
Scores on the 2003-2004 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) were disappointing, with 72 percent of students meeting the state standards for reading, 56 percent for math, and 53 percent for science, while just 50 percent of students passed all TAKS tests, some of the lowest scores of any urban district in the state. Eight schools were deemed “Academically Unacceptable” by the Texas Education Agency, while none were labeled “Exemplary.”
Just clarifying that this problem is not a new one by any means. That does not make it right, that does not mean that there are not things to fix. That does not mean that the district doesn’t have marching orders. We have a lot of work to do.
We have seen what happens when too much emphasis is given to a test. No one wants to return to those days. We became a district that produced test takers, and we all saw what results happened there.
By the way, no one “approves” my replies on this board. I speak solely for myself, as I have said many times just as I do on my blog.
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… and although you are a member of the district’s senior management team, your opinion does not represent that of your employer. We know the drill.
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Well, Tim, back then they were not paying me over a hundred thousand dollars a year to lead our children to a new technology revolution of learning which does not seem to be working, does it Tim?
But Tim why would you blame me for anything about education, you seem to forget that the Superintendent is supposed to be the educational leader of our district even though he is a lawyer. You function according to his orders, not the boards. The one thing I heard most on the board was DO NOT MICROMANAGE! But when things start or continue going bad administrators point their fingers at the board. Look to yourself Tim it is your baby!
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And how were the scores back then Dan?
You had one employee, and that person was responsible for the scores. I believe it was Charles Tafoya. And your scores were as bad, if not worse than the scores are now.
The way a school district works, if I can remind everyone, is that the Board, of which Dan was the President of for a while, sets the goals, and the Superintendent implements those goals. A board has a single employee, for the most part, and that is the Superintendent.
So Dan, you were directly responsible for how good or bad the district scores were while you were president.
As for your micromanaging, that is a whole different blog entry.
But I digress…
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Tim, Instead of blaming the past. Why don’t you fix the present?
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well Tim, if I was responsible for the low scores then Dori Fenenbock by your logic would be responsible for the present bad scores. The only difference is I guess, my board did not get or have to spend over a half a million dollars of local property tax money marketing or Branding the EPISD which you say is very necessary. I guess thinking about it I guess if you want to keep the public in the dark as to how your Blended and Active learning are working, spend the money and protect your jobs, at least till 2021 when everything will be OK.
And by the way, Tim, when the goals are developed there are District Facilitators there working with the board making sure everything is going to be OK with the Superintendent.
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The people who were students in the beginning to middle of the last decade are graduated now.
I am more interested as to what the “great social experiment” (Blended Learning, Active Learning, forced Dual Language, Bright shiny new technology for everyone, etc.) under the CURRENT admin and Board is doing to the well being and education of our children now.
I would certainly love to have Mr. Wever’s figures posted above verified to be thorough. But, I feel somewhat confident with them considering his postings of the past. If the figures above are real. then…
It seems to me that still having schools score in the single digits for reading kind of means something (as does a general drop in such scores for most of our schools). If the scores were bad in the past (2004?); and, they are just as bad or worse now… Then, what we are doing (and have been doing before and especially during the past 5 years) is maybe not working.
Perhaps, shuffling the central office personnel around every couple months or so, spending millions on technology that will HAVE to be replaced or updated in VERY short order, paying a non educator superintendent more that the president of the United States, and paying some outside firm for branding it all to make the district look better than it is; isn’t actually educating our kids after all.
Just a thought…
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The do blend the BS at the EPISD.
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Tim, you need to check your data a little closer. I was not even on the board for the 2003-2004 school year.
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Like I asked, how were the scores while you were on the board?
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Tim,
What’s your position on the Gafcon bid?
Please answer by asking Dan Wever about bid issues when he was on the board.
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pretty pathetic. and to think they just gave every middle school student very nice new apple imac laptops and they still cannot read at grade level. very sad. Dan Wever mentioned that many schools will become charter schools in a very short time. didnt cabrera campaign for the bond that charter schools were the bane of public schools’ existence?
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http://encinitasparents4truth.com/
This link shows parents in Encitas, CA who were not happy with Himmelstein (the overpaid consultant at EPISD). Curious to know how much of Tim’s Ipad/laptop program is tied to the Sonima/Himmelstein connection. Tim may have tied his boat to the wrong dock.
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Not to disagree with the point Dan is making as the data does indicate concern but it is important to point out, since the data is presented tracking a cohort, that the test changed drastically from 2016 to 2017. In 2016, students across Texas took STAAR but students identified as Special Education had the option to take a test called STAAR-A. Texas was one of a few states allowing students to test off grade level due to being in Special Education. In 2017, that option was removed and all students had to take the STAAR on grade level. There were some online accommodations that could be used for Special Education students but it was a much more rigorous assessment. As a parent of a Special Education student, this is an important point to consider as students are identified as learning disabled due to being off grade level. Therefore, the notion of taking an on grade level assessment is setting a learning disabled student up for potential failure. This is not a EPISD decision or really even a TEA decision but rather a USDE decision. Not making excuses for EPISD as the scores speak for themselves, but in this case the data does not reflect a true comparison.
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Their response to lowest scores, another shuffle of all of academics. I feel badly for those folks including my wife whose had a hard time with this. It’s just a game for these innovative leaders.
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