Abilene ISD Plans For Comeback After Lower Performance Rankings
By: Marlisa Goldsmith
Updated: May 24, 2012
Today may have been the last day of school for students, but that does not mean the district will stop making plans for improvement.
Numbers show that some schools in Abilene ISD have dropped in certain areas of academic performance.
Dr. Cathy Ashby, the Associate Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction in AISD, says, "The state curriculum has become more rigorous."
New tests, different methods of teaching, and the list goes on.
Ashby continues, "and of course we've had state budget cuts so we have larger class sizes. So there is a reason that you may see a dip in some areas."
If you take a look at high schools in AISD, you can see the slight decrease in performance from the 2009-10 school year to the 2010-11 school year.
For instance, Cooper's TAKS scores dropped 3%, Abilene High dropped 5%.
AISD says the slight decrease is nothing to be worried about.
"We are adjusting to the new state test which is much more rigorous. Since then we've had a lot of training this year. We also know that with new programs it takes some time to implement," says Ashby.
At the beginning of this school year the board of trustees invested quite a bit of money to help their students in problem areas.
"We put in some reading programs. Read 180 and system 44. We also put in reasoning math," she says.
AISD says their goal is to always improve.
"We challenge each child to reach their full potential. So we expect and go into every school year hoping that we have the best year that we've ever had," says Ashby.
Numbers show that some schools in Abilene ISD have dropped in certain areas of academic performance.
Dr. Cathy Ashby, the Associate Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction in AISD, says, "The state curriculum has become more rigorous."
New tests, different methods of teaching, and the list goes on.
Ashby continues, "and of course we've had state budget cuts so we have larger class sizes. So there is a reason that you may see a dip in some areas."
If you take a look at high schools in AISD, you can see the slight decrease in performance from the 2009-10 school year to the 2010-11 school year.
For instance, Cooper's TAKS scores dropped 3%, Abilene High dropped 5%.
AISD says the slight decrease is nothing to be worried about.
"We are adjusting to the new state test which is much more rigorous. Since then we've had a lot of training this year. We also know that with new programs it takes some time to implement," says Ashby.
At the beginning of this school year the board of trustees invested quite a bit of money to help their students in problem areas.
"We put in some reading programs. Read 180 and system 44. We also put in reasoning math," she says.
AISD says their goal is to always improve.
"We challenge each child to reach their full potential. So we expect and go into every school year hoping that we have the best year that we've ever had," says Ashby.
