It ’ s Hard to Put a Letter Grade on all the Great Things our Students are Doing
January is here and with it comes winter . Yes , for many of you new to Texas – and from my countless conversations with parents at campuses this school year , there are a lot of you out there – it gets cold in Texas .
By Dr . Jamie Wilson Superintendent of Schools
This is the time of year when we begin prepping for colder weather , cold / flu season and , most importantly , the start of a new semester .
I want to thank each of our teachers and staff on a great first semester that saw us reach several new achievements in and out of the classroom . We recognized 66 high school students as either National Merit Scholars or AP Scholars ( which you ’ ll learn more about inside ), had an orchestra place among the best in the state , had two elementary students have their artwork featured at a prominent state conference and cheered three of our four high school football teams in the state playoffs .
As we begin the second half of the school year , it ’ s important to remember that there is no let up for our teachers , our support staff or our administrators . Our goal is for each one of our students to be successful in school and in life . We don ’ t meet that standard by resting on our accomplishments of the fall semester , we always push forward and aim to place that bar even higher .
I say all this because the winter season in Texas also signals the beginning of a new legislative session in our state . The 85th Texas Legislature is currently in session in Austin , discussing many issues that will have an impact on the present and future of this state . Chief among them is public education and a new school accountability system that rates each of the schools in Texas on a new A-F system .
The stakeholders in this community have spoken on the topic of public education several times and informed our Board of Trustees and myself that , in regards to high-stakes testing , our students ’ educational growth can ’ t be measured by a number . With an accountability system that is now largely based on these same test results , I feel confident in saying that our community believes our students can ’ t be measured by a single letter as well .
The state ’ s A-F accountability system has been designed to reflect the quality of a school based on one state test . We do not embrace or recognize a rating or ranking of our schools based on this narrow of an indicator or a single-day performance of our students . In fact , our focus is to provide a quality 21st century education that far exceeds the limited parameters of this state accountability design . Our schools are so much more than one test , and our students are so much more than one score .
In this issue you ’ ll read about a partnership with the University of North Texas that directly impacted students in the classroom , you ’ ll learn about a PE teacher who is incorporating math and science into a fishing club and you ’ ll catch up with one of our graduates from Fred Moore High School , who now serves as an assistant district attorney for the county .
These are all examples of our district not letting a single number or letter define the work we do each day or what are students are accomplishing !
As always , if you have any story ideas or topics you wish to see covered please contact us by emailing communications @ dentonisd . org .
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