Can you help raise San Antonio’s educational attainment?
A local education nonprofit is calling on parents, educators, business leaders, elected officials and community organizations to help raise educational attainment in San Antonio after an analysis of standardized test data showed 46% of students across the city are reading on grade level and just 31% are performing on grade level in math.
The report, which showed that local students inched up one percentage point in reading and down two percentage points in math, is based on the most recent State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test results and is the third such analysis released by City Education Partners.
Dalia Flores Contreras, the nonprofit’s CEO, said in a letter accompanying the release that the overall one percent academic decline across the board when including all subjects calls for a citywide approach and an urgent need for solutions.
“The urgency is clear: our community cannot allow another year to go by without significant positive movement and growth for children,” she said. “These numbers speak to the opportunities that will — or will not — be available to the children they represent.
“They also reveal the profound impact these educational outcomes will have on our local economy and competitiveness in the years ahead,” Flores Contreras added.
The results, which were displayed geographically, reflect historical economic investment and education disparities between San Antonio’s more affluent North Side and other parts of the city.
In District 5, only 22% of students read proficiently, while only 18% exhibit math proficiency.
Districts 8, 9 and 10 — all on the North Side — had the highest percentage of passing scores. However, according to the analysis, only 72% of District 9 students were reading proficiently, and 55% were proficient in math — a 5% decrease from last year.
A call to action
Jeff Goldhorn, the executive director of Education Service Center Region 20, said the report “serves as a call to action for all of us to recognize the challenges that our schools and families are facing and to do our part to support the students in the many school systems throughout the city.”
Education Service Centers were created by the legislature to help schools implement laws, assist districts with help improving student performance and to “enable school districts to operate more efficiently and economically.”
Goldhorn pointed to the comprehensive nature of the report, which shows regions and schools that are struggling while also uplifting “bright spots,” which are schools with socioeconomically disadvantaged populations that are outperforming their peers.
“I encourage you, regardless of your role, to dig into the data and to consider the calls to action as a personal challenge to do your part to support our students,” he said.
In addition to a written report and analysis, the nonprofit released six “Calls to Action,” including one for parents and families that underscores the importance of attendance and involvement in a child’s education and a call to business leaders, which highlights the importance of mentorship and advocacy.
The others call on school board members, local education leaders, elected officials and community organizations to contribute.
“What we find when folks see this data is that they are very curious and intrigued,” she said, reflecting on the past two years after the reports came out. “We found a lot of people saying, ‘Well, what do we do, and how do we connect?’”
After collaborating with superintendents, the local education resource center and charter schools, the nonprofit compiled the calls to action, she said.
Bright spots in the report
While the thrust of the report shows overall declines in performance, there are also highlights throughout each City Council district that are noted for their achievements.
In District 1, for example, where only 46% of students are reading at or above grade level, 74% of students at the Mark Twain Dual Language Academy within the San Antonio Independent School District are reading at or above grade level.
David Garcia, who has been the school’s principal for the past eight years, credited a no-nonsense focus on academics and low staff turnover, as well as a highly trained teacher workforce, for the feat.
“When you have a population of teachers that just stay put, then you’re able to really grow them and really, really develop them to be masterful,” he said from his office Tuesday. “That’s important for this reason: when we hold on to our teachers and really develop them … [we’re] building a good, strong instructional critical mass.”
While recruitment efforts are often spearheaded by the central office and Human Resources departments within a school district, Garcia said that campus leaders can also proactively work to find and then keep quality teachers.
Garcia also said he has also taken a hard stance on protecting classroom time, even if that means saying no to some classroom parties and other non-academic activities.
“Our focus should never deviate from the fact that we are first and foremost an institution to educate and prepare students, period,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re not Chuck E Cheese.”
In District 10, where 39% of students scored at or above grade level on math, IDEA Judson Academy, a charter school, had 61% with that designation and Woodridge Elementary School in Alamo Heights ISD had 64%.
Stephen Foster, the Regional Vice President of Schools for IDEA Public Schools in San Antonio, pointed to classroom management and the rigorous involvement of administrators in the classroom as unique attributes that led to exceptional scores.
“Every single week, we review every single teacher’s lesson plan to give them feedback,” he said, adding that feedback could range from the rigor of questions to the fundamentals of what is included in the lesson.
If lessons need to be aligned with state standards or best practices, they are reworked or replaced, along with support from the administration, he said.
Teachers are also observed regularly, with principals spending their days at mobile desks, roaming from classroom to classroom to ensure quality and to provide support when needed, Foster added.
Foster also touted a tight focus on data, pointing to “exit tickets” that are required at the end of each lesson at IDEA schools to measure how well students mastered a given subject.
“Our teachers have to report out every single day: Why or why not were kids successful … and then what needs to be true differently tomorrow based on the gap that you saw today?” he said. “So we’re able to close gaps faster and faster.”
Despite these examples of success , citywide scores show a third consecutive decline in math, underlining the importance of change.
With education tied so closely to post-graduate success, Contreras said she hopes the city can rise to the challenge.
“How do people change?” she asked. “They either see the light or they feel the fire.
“I would love to see a San Antonio where we don’t have to feel the fire.”
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