Published: October 23, 2008 09:41 pm      

County schools show gold performances

For the second year in a row, Navarro County schools brought home gold in academics.

Gold Performance Acknowledgments are different ways to judge a school’s progress other than merely using Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores. The alternative standards compare TAKS scores with schools of similar size and make-up, and include how many kids are taking AP courses, high attendance percentages, SAT scores, and how ready students are for college.

The acknowledgments were released by the Texas Education Agency Thursday afternoon.

School districts are rated separately from the individual campuses. Corsicana did not receive any district-wide acknowledgments, although five Corsicana campuses did receive commendations — Corsicana High School, Drane Intermediate, and Bowie, Navarro and Fannin elementaries. In all, the schools received 14 acknowledgments.

“The Gold Performance Acknowledgments are additional indicators that Corsicana ISD is heading in a very positive direction with the education of the children in our community,” said Chip Curington, deputy superintendent for Corsicana ISD.

Among the county’s smaller schools, Frost High School received seven acknowledgments, Mildred High got five, Blooming Grove Junior High got four, and Rice High got three. Mildred ISD received five district-wide acknowledgments.

Of the 1,222 districts evaluated in Texas, 80 percent earned one or more Gold Performance Acknowledgment, according to the Texas Education Agency. Among the 7,517 individual campuses evaluated, 81 percent earned at least one acknowledgment.

Full results of local district and campus acknowledgments will be in Saturday’s edition of the Corsicana Daily Sun.