Hurricane Evacuees Score Poorly on TAKS Test

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Hurricane Evacuees Score Poorly on TAKS Test

Reported by LIZ AUSTIN
May 17, 2006 - 7:19PM

AUSTIN (AP) _ Just one in six high school sophomores who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita passed a state standardized test that is a precursor to the exit exam they will have to pass next year to graduate.

Test results were just as dismal for other displaced high school and middle school students, who scored much lower than their Texas peers at every grade level.

Experts said New Orleans' troubled school system was partly to blame, along with the trauma of adjusting to a new home and a new school.

"There is just no question these kids are starting behind where Texas kids are and will need extra attention and extra instruction to catch up," said Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, a Washington-based research and advocacy group.

About half of Texas sophomores passed the English language arts, math, science and social studies sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. About 17 percent of evacuee sophomores passed each section.

While displaced high school juniors and seniors can earn a Louisiana diploma in Texas by passing their home state's standardized tests and completing its graduation requirements, sophomores who choose to stay will have to pass the TAKS next year to graduate.

"School districts are going to have to step up and provide intervention programs for these students," Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman said.

State officials believe many of this year's juniors and seniors are working toward a Louisiana diploma, but Marchman did not have a good estimate. Those students don't have to take Texas' standardized test.

Twenty-four percent of the displaced juniors who took the TAKS passed all four sections, compared with 64 percent of all Texas students.

Students have five chances to pass the test before the end of their senior year. Eighty-nine percent of Texas' 227,047 seniors have passed all four sections and can graduate this spring.

Evacuee middle school students also struggled on the TAKS, with 21 percent of eighth-graders passing all three sections they have to take and 24 percent of freshmen passing both of their sections. The passing rate for Texas eighth- and ninth-graders was 57 percent and 56 percent, respectively.

Performance was slightly better among displaced elementary students, though many still risk being held back. Third-graders must pass the reading portion of the test, while fifth-graders must pass reading and math.

Seventy-one percent of evacuee third-graders and 61 percent of fifth-graders passed the reading portion after the test was offered twice. Forty-five percent of fifth-graders passed the math portion the first time they took the test. The results of a retest weren't back yet.

Jeanie Weidenbach, principal of Windcrest Elementary in San Antonio's North East Independent School District, said the roughly 40 displaced students in her school have made vast improvements even in the few months since they took the TAKS test.

But she still plans to hold about a third of them back in the same grade next year.

"We're filling in the gaps," she said.

Haycock said she's confident this year's 10th-graders will do better on the exit exams, especially if they realize how important they are.

"I think the real question for these kids is not whether they can catch up or whether schools can catch them up, but whether both the kids and the schools feel sufficient responsibility for getting there," she said.

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On the Net:

Texas Education Agency, http://www.tea.state.tx.us

Education Trust, http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust


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