A CASE STUDY

OF

CARRIZO SPRINGS CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT AND ITS ROLE AS A PARTNER IN THE

NSF-SUPPORTED TEXAS RURAL SYSTEMIC INITIATIVE

Prepared for the

NSF Rural Systemic Initiatives Evaluation Study

Submitted by

The Evaluation Center

Western Michigan University

Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5237

January 2003

A CASE STUDY

OF

CARRIZO SPRINGS (TEXAS) CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT AND ITS ROLE AS A PARTNER IN THE

NSF-SUPPORTED TEXAS RURAL SYSTEMIC INITIATIVE (TRSI)

Prepared

for

The NSF Rural Systemic Initiatives Evaluation Study

by

Kenneth H. McKinley

The Evaluation Center

Western Michigan University

Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5237

Other Visitation Team Members and Contributors

Jerry Horn

James Jess

Daniel Stufflebeam

January 2003

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant REC-9819347. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

Foreword

On behalf of The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University and the site visit team for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives evaluation study, we express appreciation to the officials of the Carrizo Springs (Texas) Consolidated Independent School District for their willingness to include this community and school district in our study for NSF. First, Superintendent Gustavo Marinez was receptive to our request to conduct a site visit to this community and opened the doors of the district for our formal visit. Secondly, Debby Dobie, Curriculum Director and South Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (STRSI) Coordinator for the district, was extremely helpful in setting up appointments for interviews for us with various stakeholders in the district, providing us with useful and pertinent written information and data, and giving her own valuable insights of not only the CSCISD programs but the Texas School Accountability Program. Further, principals at each of the seven CSCISD campuses committed time for interviews and visits to their campuses, and we appreciate their candor and openness as they reflected on both problems and successes. Individual TRSI teacher partners allowed us to visit their classrooms and talked with us about their experiences related to the Texas Rural Systemic Initiative involvement and impact on the Carrizo Springs schools. All personnel in the district and community members made the team feel welcome, and we will always remember this visit as a very positive professional experience.

We also thank the TRSI management team at West Texas A&M University: Dean of Education, Ted Guffy; TRSI/STRSI Executive Director, Judy Kelley; and TRSI Project Director, Marylin Leasure. They facilitated the selection of districts in Texas for inclusion in this case study research project and provided guidance and feedback on our work. Most importantly we thank them for their excellent service to the rural mathematics and science teachers of Texas.

 

We hope this report provides a fair and accurate description of the Carrizo Springs community, its schools, and the efforts of all to provide a quality education for the district’s students. Certainly, there are challenges and problems in any public school organization, but we acknowledge the time and effort that many professionals are providing to meet the student needs of this community.

Lastly, we thank study team members James Jess and Daniel Stufflebeam for their professional expertise and effort and the extensive and positive contributions they made in the development of this report.

 

Jerry G. Horn                                                              Kenneth H. McKinley

Principal Research Associate                                     TRSI Case Study Team Leader

                                                                          i

A Case Study

of the

Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (TX) and Its Role as a Partner in the NSF-Supported Texas Rural Systemic Initiative

As one drives from San Antonio, Texas, south and westward into the area of the state known as the “Brush Country,” one is struck by the increasingly dry, desolate, desert-like climate that supports little more than sagebrush, mesquite, prickly-pear cactus, and rattlesnakes. Dimmit County, the home of the Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD), lies squarely in the heart of this area, covering some 1,331 square miles (850,000 acres). In 1858, the Texas legislature created Dimmit County from parts of Bexar (the location of current day metropolitan San Antonio), Webb, Uvalde, and Maverick Counties and chose Carrizo Springs as the county seat. The county was named for the Pennsylvania frontiersman, Philip Dimmitt, who took part in several Mexico-Texas skirmishes in the 1840s in the Goliad, Texas, region, then later settled on the Nueces River near Corpus Christi. The spelling change of the county name came about in the early 1900s when paperwork came back from the state government land office with the second “t” dropped from the official name. The era of “cheap” land ended in the 1880s with the formal organization of the county. Land, which formerly cost as little as 3 cents an acre, was offered by the state at $1.00 per acre provided the purchaser agreed to live on his newly acquired tract of land for a minimum of 3 years.

Dimmit County is part of the west Gulf Coast or Rio Grande Plain of the southwest USA. The area presents a terrain of rolling prairie with thick, low-growing brush along the creeks and depressions that meander south toward the Rio Grande. The average elevation is 535 feet above sea level. The average temperature is slightly over 70 degrees F. allowing for year-round farming, ranching, recreation, and industrial production. However, the high temperatures in the region can easily exceed 100 degrees F. for several weeks in a row from late April to late October. Occasionally, such as in early July 2002 when parts of the area received more than 20 inches of rain in less than a week, a tropical depression originating in the Gulf of Mexico may meander west several hundred miles and drop voluminous amounts of rain on the area before moving south into the northern Mexico mountains or dissipating over the high plains of the southwest USA.

Carrizo Springs, the county seat of Dimmit County, is located some 120 miles southwest of San Antonio and 45 miles almost due east of the twin cities of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico, on the Rio Grande River. Carrizo Springs was founded in the middle of the nineteenth century when a group of Atascosa County residents, led by a Captain Levi English of the Texas Rangers, established a town site, including land for a school, church, and courthouse. The name, Carrizo Springs, is derived from the abundant cane (a.k.a “carrizo” in Spanish) that once proliferated around the freely flowing natural springs in the area.

  

The town is still considered to be located in the heart of the Wintergarden farming district, an area once noted for natural artesian wells and vast truck farms. In the early 1900s, the residents of Dimmit County welcomed an agricultural boom along with new railroad service through the area. Symbolic of the flourishing truck gardening economy of the area, merchants developed and initiated a “Foods Day” trade fair, complete with produce exhibits and a strawberry festival. However, a series of severe freezes in the early 1980s and a prolonged drought in the 1990s has severely suppressed a once vibrant agriculture economy. Today, at the start of the twenty-first century, landowners are increasingly turning to leasing their property for recreational wild game hunting. Some of the more popular species pursued by area and state recreational hunters include white tail deer, dove, quail, turkey, and feral swine. Another limited source of income for local landowners emanates from trapping and selling wild hogs to a processing plant in the area which, in turn, ships much of the processed meat overseas to outlets in Great Britain and Europe.

Two other area towns that play an integral part in the operation and life of the Carrizo Springs schools are Asherton, some 8 miles southeast on major U.S. Highway 83, and Big Wells, 16 miles due east of Carrizo on state highway 85, which intersects Interstate 35, the major commercial truck route through the United States between Mexico and Canada. Asherton was named for Asher Richardson who moved to the area from the east in 1874. Mr. Richardson established a substantial irrigated farming operation and in the early 1900s financed the first railroad into Dimmit County, a 30-mile line from Asherton to Artesia Wells, Texas. Asher also was instrumental in initiating the Asherton State Bank, a church, and the community newspaper, the Asherton Tribune. His large home (mansion) still stands atop a hill at the northern edge of town, a monument to his vision and pursuit of the development of Dimmit County and southwest Texas.

Big Wells was created in 1910. It was first known as the “Big Four Colony,” some 56,000 acres laid out in 4 square tracts of land. The first oil well that was drilled in the “Colony” erupted a geyser of the black gold above a 30-foot pipe, and the town was immediately dubbed Big Wells. It remains today as a low-cost living area in the middle of dwindling farming, ranching, and oil- related activities.

Table 1 reveals that Dimmit County and Carrizo Springs have not kept pace with the rest of the state and nation in terms of population growth, especially during the last half of the twentieth century. This area of southwest Texas did not participate in the state’s explosive population and economic growth during the 1980s and 1990s. As the population in the metropolitan areas of the Lone Star State increased almost exponentially with the fast-paced growth of the telecommunications and electronics industries, relatively rapid changes in the diminishing farming, ranching, truck gardening, and energy drilling economy of southwest Texas are evident. A brief upsurge of activity in the oil and gas business in the late 1970s is reflected in the double-digit population increases in Carrizo Springs and Dimmit County in the 1980 census.

Table 1

Population Summary: City, County, State, and Nation from 1900 to 2000

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000

Tables 2 and 3 tell another story about the evolution of Dimmit County and the state of Texas over the last 20 years with respect to changes in the racial composition and income levels of the two entities. Dimmit County, the boundaries of which are almost contiguous with those of the Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD), has gained in the percentage of Hispanic origin citizens while losing total population. The decrease in the percentage of white residents is reflective of the changes in the socioeconomic composition of the area. With the decline of production agriculture in the area in the last 20 years, the percentage of white residents in the county has decreased commensurately. Fewer current generations of farm and ranch families are living on the land and, once graduated from high school, children are leaving for higher education and/or other employment opportunities, never to return.

Table 2

Summary of Population Trends in Dimmit County, Texas, by Race and Income: 1980 to 2000

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000

Income growth for the area, when adjusted for inflation, is relatively flat over the last 20 years. In fact, using 1980 as the base year, Dimmit County was 21.9 percent below where it should have been in household income in 2000. However, if 1990 is used as the base, the area made up some ground and was approximately 5.3 percent ahead in Year 2000 inflation-adjusted household income. This may be explained by the fact that the payrolls of the two largest employers in the county, the school district and the border patrol, are largely impacted by the compensation structures of the state and federal governments, respectively.

While Dimmit County has not kept pace with the state in terms of absolute income per household, progress has been made in moving a portion of the population above the poverty level.

In terms of the racial composition of the state, the most dramatic change is among the Hispanic population. It has gained “market share” on the order of 50 percent, moving from approximately 21 percent of the state’s population in 1980 to 32 percent in 2000 (see Table 3).

Table 3

Summary of Population Trends in Texas by Race and Income: 1980 to 2000

	Race					Income
Year	White	AA	H/L	Other	Total (N)	HHI ($)	Below Poverty Level (%)
1980	65.9%	11.9%	21.0%	1.3%	14,229,191	$16,708	19.7%
1990	60.8%	11.7%	25.3%	2.3%	16,986,510	$27,016	18.1%
2000	52.4%	11.5%	32.0%	4.1%	20,851,820	$34,478	16.7%

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000

As the twenty-first century got under way, the major employers in Carrizo Springs were the school district, the U.S. Border Patrol, Dimmit County Memorial Hospital, and the Middle Rio Grande Workforce Development Area Council. Government transfer payments also provide a relatively large stream of income into the area.

The border patrol is currently in a planned growth mode as the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is expanding manpower in the border regions (1) in an attempt to further control the flow of illegal immigrants who make their way into the United States from Mexico and Latin America and (2) particularly since the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, 2001. Reports of doubling and possibly tripling the number of agents from the current nearly 100 full-time equivalent positions were commonly reported but not confirmed by the case study visitation team.

No major manufacturing plants are located in the community. In addition to the employers listed above, the largely service economy provides the bulk of employment opportunities in Dimmit County. We observed a Dollar General store, Wal-Mart, farm supply store (which also handles the feral pig receiving and transportation service), several quick-trip gas stations, several restaurants serving Tex-Mex fare, two relatively small and modest motels, county government offices, and the usual assortment of insurance agencies, etc. Table 4 exhibits a more formal

Table 4

Dimmit County, Texas, Occupational Summary: 1990 Census

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000

summary of the types of occupations engaged in by area residents over the age of 16. Although these data are from the 1990 census, it is believed that the 2000 numbers will not vary much because the population, as a composite, and the area economy have not changed appreciably in the last 10 years.

Prospects for improving and expanding the economy of Carrizo Springs and Dimmit County over the next 10 years seem to hinge on 3 events: (1) the development of U.S. Highway 83, (2) the improvement of affordable and adequate housing in the area, and (3) the continued development and maintenance of a satisfactory water supply. Highway 83 traverses from Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border some 80 miles south of Carrizo Springs through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas to the Canadian border. It is being viewed by some policymakers as an alternative route to relieve some of the burgeoning North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) truck traffic that is now beginning to overwhelm U.S. Interstate 35 between Mexico and Canada. However, discussions among influential individuals in the area include the notion of building a new road from Laredo to Del Rio parallel to the Rio Grande River. This road would bypass Dimmit County and have the potential to further isolate Carrizo Springs from the means to grow economically. This decision will probably be made in the next two to three years. There are indications that the Carrizo Springs-Crystal City-Uvalde corridor of Highway 83 is in a relatively weak political position with respect to this decision.

The housing issue relates to border patrol agents stationed in the area. They wish to rent rather than purchase adequate housing for their families due to the uncertainty of the long-term nature of their assignment in the area. This issue is a vexing one for potential apartment housing investors and economic development specialists in the area. If we build it, will they come?

Third, with respect to a reliable, quality water supply as a key ingredient to sustainable economic development, the groundwater source in the area was polluted over time by suspect oil drilling methods. Carrizo Springs gets the bulk of its water from wells in the area, some of which may be more than 1,000 feet deep. The city is also making good use of matching government funds to install new water lines and improve existing ones.

The School District

Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD) is one of several rural school districts in Texas with the word “consolidated” in its formal name. For most districts with this distinction, it reflects the consolidation or merger of two or more rural K-12 districts, usually for the purpose of financial efficiency; the motivation to offer a more comprehensive academic program to the students attending from the combined districts; and the need to utilize staff, facilities, and equipment more efficiently and effectively. CSCISD serves a combination of the current day communities of Asherton, Big Wells, Brundage, Carrizo Springs, Catarina, and Winter Haven. It is the only public school district in Dimmit County. The CSCISD physical plant is currently comprised of nine separate facilities: seven student attendance centers (called campuses in Texas), an administration building, and a bus “farm” auxiliary services/maintenance facility. Campuses are located in Asherton (K-6), Big Wells (K-8), and Carrizo Springs (high school, junior high, and three elementary school campuses).

Notable facts about the CSCISD student body, in addition to the information shown in Table 5 below, is that the district enrollment, even with the addition of Asherton Independent School District (see discussion below), has declined approximately 10 percent over the last 5 years. Again, this is attributed to the decline in the economy of the area, young people leaving after high school graduation and not returning, and a concomitant decrease in the childbearing population. The district enjoys a stable school attendance rate of 96 percent and a low dropout rate of 2.5 percent. There is good cooperation between local law enforcement and school officials pursuant to keeping school-aged children in school. Also, there do not appear to be a lot of diversions

Table 5

CSCISD Enrollment Information by Campus, Race and Cost Per Pupil: 2000-01

Source: Texas Education Agency Snapshot 2001

in the community to entice students to drop out or not attend regularly. School is deemed to be an inviting place in Carrizo Springs.

Community support for the schools seems to be strong. Practically every issue of the local weekly newspaper, the Carrizo Springs Javelin, carries some report of school activities, events, or happenings (most of which are positive) on the front page. A number of community organizations have been instrumental in raising scholarship funds to assist high school graduates entering higher education. Approximately 60 percent of CSCISD high school graduates attempt a higher education experience at one of the area community colleges or four-year colleges or universities. The remaining 40 percent enter the military, trade schools, or work in entry-level jobs in Carrizo Springs or the region.

Many parents of CSCISD students believe education is a vehicle for a better way of life for their children. Thus, to the best of their often limited means, they support the work of the CSCISD teachers and administrators.

Asherton ISD (AISD) was a separate K-12 Texas public independent school district until June 1999, when it was required to close as an operating entity and be annexed to the Carrizo Springs district. This mandate was executed under state law by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the regulatory and administrative body for K-12 education in Texas. The primary reason was that AISD was deeply in debt and not properly collecting local property taxes. Academic performance of AISD was not considered as part of the criteria for the annexation decision. The state of Texas allocated approximately $800,000 per year for 5 years to the CSCISD Board of Education to assist in the transition to educating an additional 300 students; paying off old debt; renewing facilities, equipment, and supplies that had fallen into disrepair or disuse; relocating teaching staff; transportation costs; and other related expenditures pursuant to the forced annexation. Although there was noticeable vocal resistance to this event by some citizens of Asherton, the CSCISD Board of Education, administration, and teachers have accomplished the transition very nicely, completely renovating the Asherton campus, creating a bright and attractive learning environment, furnishing classrooms and labs with the latest computer technology, and building a culture of inclusiveness and caring that is unique in these kinds of changes.

Table 6 exhibits a brief profile of how CSCISD teachers compare, as a group, with the teaching cohorts in the other 49 public school districts in Texas Education Service Center Region 20 and within the state of Texas. The 186 classroom teachers in CSCISD appear to be a well-educated, dynamic force. Many hail from the immediate area or have married into families living in the Dimmit County region. Most of the teachers received their bachelor’s degrees from area college or university teacher education programs such as Texas A&M-Kingsville, University of Texas-San Antonio, Sul Ross State-Alpine, etc. As a group, they possess, on average, more than 14 years of classroom teaching experience and 1 in 7 have advanced degrees.

One of the more severe challenges for the CSCISD administrators is to recruit and retain quality certified mathematics and science teachers. For example, an excellent junior high school husband-wife team who taught eighth grade science and sixth grade math, repectively, left the district to teach in a larger school system closer to home and San Antonio. Both had participated in and benefited greatly from the NSF-funded Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (TRSI) program of professional development.

However, on balance, the CSCISD teaching corps appears to be a dedicated group of professionals, intent on assisting their students, many of whom come from less than desirable home environments, to maximize their academic and personal potential and achieve to the best of their ability.

Table 6

CSCISD Classroom Teacher Cohort Profile Comparison With Region 20 and the State of Texas: 2000-01

Source: Texas Education Agency Snapshot 2001

The district employs 13 full-time administrators, 7 campus principals, and 6 central office directors who are responsible for coordinating various programs for special populations of students, curriculum coordination, student testing, and grant administration.

CSCISD is governed by a seven-member board of education that is elected by the registered voters of the district. As with other local boards of public education in America, the CSCISD board’s major function is to set policy for the operation of the district; hire, evaluate and, if necessary, dismiss the chief executive officer (superintendent); execute oversight of the district budget; and, in general, serve as leaders and supportive promoters for education in the area. The district experienced a brief turnover in the superintendency during the 2001-02 school year. Action taken by CSCISD at its regular school board meeting of March 5, 2002, was recorded as follows:

 

Whereas differences in philosophical approach to educational policies in CSCISD have arisen between (the superintendent) and the Board, and whereas all parties to this agreement concur in determining that it is in the best interests of the CSCISD and the children it serves to amicably resolve all matters in controversy between the parties, the parties hereby agree to limit their comments regarding the agreement and the decision to enter into the agreement according to the terms and conditions set forth below.

 

After serious consideration of the future of this District and what would be best for the students, both the Board of Trustees and (the) Superintendent have come to an agreement that it is time for a change. As a result, (the Superintendent) will step down . . . to give the Board an opportunity to work in a new direction with a new superintendent. In exchange, the Board will honor the remainder of (the Superintendent’s) contract and permit him to resign his contract. The Board of Trustees wishes to acknowledge the contributions made by (the Superintendent) for his years of service to the District, not only as superintendent but also as principal and teacher, and the Board wishes (the Superintendent) all the best for the future.

However, soon after this key personnel change, a new board rehired the same individual to the superintendency commencing with the 2002-03 school year. So it goes with local politics. This whole event, in the observation of the visiting case study team, did not have a material effect on the district’s academic programs.

Financially, CSCISD is one of the more economically stressed local public education systems in Texas. As previously cited, there is no manufacturing in the area, agricultural and energy production are dying, and the county is remote and isolated from the state’s economic mainstream. The state provides approximately 72 percent of the nearly $19 million operating budget for the district (Table 7). Texas school districts with local property taxable value in excess of $300,000 per pupil must either “buy” weighted pupil units for less well-endowed districts or pay into a state fund for the same purpose. This model, also known as the “Robin Hood” plan, grew out of the Edgewood vs. Kirby court case in the early 1980s, which was an attempt by the plaintiffs to equalize per-pupil funding for K-12 education across the 1,100+ school districts in Texas. Without this financial assistance from the state, CSCISD could not function.

Table 7

CSCISD Financial Comparison With Region 20 and the State of Texas, 2000-01

Source: Texas Education Agency Snapshot 2001

Under one of the more permissive laws in the nation, Texas reported more than 150 charter schools in operation in 2000-01. Most of these are located in and around the metropolitan areas of the state. None exist in Dimmit County, and there are no private or religion-affiliated schools in the immediate region. Home-schooling, particularly of elementary-age youngsters, does exist in the area; but this does not appear to be an issue with CSCISD.

In addition to receiving the majority of its operating budget from the state, the CSCISD Board of Education has taken advantage of a state-supported bond fund program that helps property-poor school districts in Texas build facilities and purchase needed equipment. The district is building a new $8 million elementary campus to be ready for occupancy by 2003. The state will underwrite 80 percent of the cost, and local property owners will pay the balance. This will allow the district to close two old, existing, outdated, and high maintenance campuses; improve communications; and create budget efficiencies. The other major budget issue for CSCISD in the near future is the operation of the Asherton and Big Wells campuses. It costs over a million dollars annually to keep each campus open. Enrollment is dwindling at both as the population in each community diminishes and parents opt to send their children into Carrizo Springs for the potential of expanded and enriched curricular offerings.

The CSCISD campuses appear to be well maintained and functional for delivering the academic program. As mentioned, action plans have been implemented to substantially upgrade the district’s physical plant. The junior high school (formerly the high school campus) and the current high school present a bright, inviting, well-conceived color scheme and student traffic flow plan supportive of high expectations for positive student behavior and learning.

Of special note is the CSCISD technology program, which is directed by a native of the area who returned recently from private industry in Austin. It features more than 1,500 desktop and laptop computer stations distributed across the 7 campuses (and 2 administrative centers) in individual classrooms and computer labs. Connectivity between campuses is achieved with a high-speed, microwave-driven wireless system that is facilitated by the flat terrain of the area. The district has been aggressive in pursuing state and federal grants and telephone industry universal service subsidies to support the system and keep it operating at the cutting edge of technology appropriate to a public PK-12 school system. Part-time aides are deployed at each campus to assist teachers and students with technology technical assistance needs.

The Texas System of Elementary and Secondary Education

The Texas public elementary and secondary education system is administered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the regulatory arm of the executive branch of state government. The TEA executes policy and provides oversight of education laws and regulations established by the legislature and the state board of education. This is a huge responsibility in that there were more than 4 million students attending 1,199 Texas local independent school districts and charter schools in 2001-02. The TEA administers state curriculum policy and frameworks, budgetary policy and distribution procedures, and attends to the needs of student special populations. The TEA also administers the Texas accountability program, one of the most unique, structured, complete, and consequential student testing programs in the United States.

The TEA is assisted in its administrative responsibilities by a network of 20 regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) with defined geographic areas of service. The largest ESC in terms of the number of local school districts served is located at Richardson (in the Dallas metropolitan area) with 107, and the smallest is at El Paso, serving 16 districts. The ESCs employ specialists in curriculum, telecommunications and computer technology, testing and assessment, finance, grant acquisition and administration, professional staffing of special and cooperative education programs, and special needs student population services (e.g., special education, bilingual education, etc.). Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD), along with 49 other public school districts in southwest Texas, is served by Region 20 located in San Antonio.

No discussion of any aspect of the PK-12 public education program in the Lone Star State could be held without including an overview of the Texas School Accountability Rating (AR) system. Texas is entering its third decade and fourth generation of a statewide criterion-referenced testing (CRT) program with the commencement of the 2002-03 school year. To be specific, this movement gained momentum and national attention in the 1980s with the report of the Texas Select Committee on Education, chaired by H. Ross Perot, CEO of Educational Data Systems (EDS) and independent candidate for president of the United States in 1992 and 1996. In 1984, the Texas legislature enacted a comprehensive education reform law mandating the most sweeping changes in public elementary and secondary education in the then-prior 30 years. The law established the framework for a statewide curriculum (called the Essential Elements), required students to achieve a score of 70 to pass their high school courses, mandated the “no pass, no play” rule (students participating in varsity sports must pass their high school courses in order to participate), required teachers to take and pass a statewide curriculum exam, and mandated changes in the statewide testing program (including testing of kindergarten and first-grade pupils, ostensibly for the purpose of sound program placement and instructional intervention). Although other measures beside CRT scores make up a Texas school district and campus Accountability Rating (AR)—e.g., student attendance and dropout rates—the student assessment process, which some call “high stakes” testing (HST), clearly drives the process.

Texas is cited in the literature (Haney, 2000; Amrein and Berliner, 2002) as one of 18 states in America that currently administers an HST program in the elementary and secondary schools. High-stakes tests are defined to be any forms of assessment wherein the results have definable consequences (good, bad, or indifferent) for students, teachers, campuses, and/or school districts. Texas and North Carolina lead with as many as 8 out of 10 selected “stakes” associated with their statewide HST programs:

 

1.         Graduation from high school is contingent on a passing grade on the state exam.

 

2.         Grade promotion is contingent on passing the state exam.

 

3.         The state publishes an annual school (campus) or district report card (in Texas, school districts are required by law to disseminate these reports to parents).

 

4.         The state rates or identifies low performing schools according to whether they meet state standards or improve each year.

 

5.         Monetary awards are given to high performing or improving schools.

 

6.         Monetary awards can be used for staff bonuses.

 

7.         The state has the authority to close, reconstitute, or revoke a school’s accreditation or take over low-performing schools.

 

8.         The state has the authority to replace school personnel due to low test scores.

 

9.         The state permits students in low-performing schools to enroll elsewhere.

 

10.       Monetary awards or scholarships for in- or out-of-state college tuition are given to high performing students.

Texas incorporates all but numbers 2 and 10 above. However, the state is preparing to add number 2, “grade promotion contingent upon passing the state exam,” to the list of identified high stakes in its accountability program beginning with the introduction of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in 2003.

The benefits of high stakes testing, as posited by various researchers and state education agency officials, include the following:

 

1.         Challenging academic expectations for students, teachers, and schools are established and clarified.

 

2.         Schools return to focusing on the mission for which they were originally established: student basic skill acquisition—reading, writing (verbal), and mathematics (quantitative).

 

3.         Student achievement gaps can be easily identified and efficiently addressed.

 

4.         Student learning performance is boosted.

 

5.         The public is given some concept and confidence in their “return on investment” in the schools.

 

6.         Delivery of curricula is improved.

 

7.         Teacher and administrator professional development is focused on and built around “what works.”

 

8.         An awareness of the learning needs of ALL students is sharpened.

 

9.         Educators’ knowledge of the integral role of assessment in the teaching and learning process is increased.

 

10.       The dialogue about what schools should be about is improved internally between teachers and teachers and administrators and between schools and their publics.

High stakes tests (HSTs), as they are now promulgated across the United States, often generate unintended and negative consequences. A representative list of these documented effects of HSTs include such observations as the following:

 

1.         They encourage “teaching to the test.”

 

2.         Student test performance is shaped by factors other than content knowledge, e.g., teaching test-taking skills, motivating students through extrinsic reward programs, modifying the curriculum to match the test, and elevating test-taking skills to the forefront as the most important of student characteristics.

 

3.         Results are used for inappropriate tracking, grade promotion, and retention.

 

4.         Students who don’t test well become labeled as liabilities because their scores lower the group average.

 

5.         They narrow the curriculum (“If it isn’t on the test, we don’t teach it!”).

 

6.         Vital resource and curriculum decisions are made on the results of a single test score.

 

7.         They tend to transfer control over the curriculum to the body that controls the test.

 

8.         They are used to make extremely important, high stakes decisions about individual students, e.g., grade promotion, graduation, etc.

 

9.         They are culturally biased against certain groups of students.

 

10.       They perpetuate the idea that “good” education equals a high test score and vice versa.

The 2001-02 school year marked the last year in a ten-year run in the implementation and use of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) as the major marker of student academic achievement in the public elementary and secondary schools of the Lone Star State. In addition to being used to insure student learning, TAAS results are also used to hold school districts accountable for student learning (Haney, 2000). The Texas State Board of Education is mandated by law to rate the performance of schools and school districts according to a set of “academic excellence indicators,” including TAAS test results and student dropout and attendance rates (TEA, 1998). State law also prescribes that student performance data be disaggregated by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The TEA performance rating system holds that school district and campus performance is not acceptable if the achievement results of all subgroups is not acceptable. Based primarily on the percentage of students passing each TAAS test, since 1994 the more than 6,000 campuses in Texas have been rated as “exemplary,” “recognized,” “(academically) acceptable,” or “(academically) unacceptable” (Haney, 2000).

Beginning in 2002-03, the statewide test will be changed to the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) (see Table 8). Reasons given by state officials for the change at this time are that “the (TAAS) test items are no longer ‘fresh’ (classroom teachers and students have become adept at anticipating the correct answers on each succeeding year’s form of the test) and elected and appointed state policy-makers believe the state suffers from score inflation, and that the results are not reflective of sound student learning.” However, one Texas superintendent with whom this author interacted likened the whole process of changing the test “when the scores get too high” to a sports analogy. “We can teach a basketball player to shoot free throws with 80 or 90 percent accuracy. When he/she reaches that goal, we don’t then suddenly raise the hoop to 12 feet. We need to decide as a state and nation what constitutes acceptable learning in this country and how to assess it, then stay with it and not change every few years.”

After undoubtedly millions of professional person-hours of collective effort and input by classroom teachers, district curriculum personnel, state agency officials, test-construction contractor representatives, and student field-testing, the new state high stakes test, the TAKS, will be implemented Spring 2003. It reportedly will be more rigorous than the TAAS and will more accurately measure students’ higher order and inferential thinking skills. This same claim was made in 1990 at the time of the transition from the Texas Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) to the TAAS. This change, or what some would call “raising the bar,” creates what is known as the “sawtooth effect” in state test scores over time (Linn, 2000).

Shown in Table 8 are the number, level, and types of tests that will result with the discontinuance of the TAAS (Spring 2002) and introduction of the TAKS in 2003. By the end of the fifth year of the TAKS implementation, 2007-08, Texas will have evolved from requiring 19 tests at 7 grade levels with a single graduation requirement under TAAS to the administration of 26 tests over 9 grade levels with multiple test-driven graduation and grade promotion requirements. The high stakes requirement of passing the state exam in reading for third graders for promotion to fourth grade and the passage of reading and mathematics exams at the fifth and eighth grades will be introduced with the TAKS. Finally, whereas there will be statewide mathematics testing at every grade from third through the rising junior level in high school (eleventh grade exit exam) with high-stakes consequences, the state will require only 2 science exams. With the move of the TAAS eighth grade science test to the TAKS fifth grade test, a 6-year gap in assessing science

Table 8

TAAS to TAKS Conversion Chart

 

Source: John Taylor, Counselor. Clarendon (TX) Consolidated Independent School District

*Students must pass TAKS test at indicated grade levels to be eligible for promotion to next grade

**Students must pass TAAS test to be eligible to graduate from high school

***Students must pass TAKS test to be eligible to graduate from high school                                   

instruction at the state level will be created. This is of professional concern to two primary groups: fifth grade teachers who previously have not taught science in any depth and middle school/junior high school science teachers who worry about the possible diversion of local school district resources away from their content areas to address other changes in the state high-stakes testing program. TRSI specialists are busy addressing the concern of at least the first group in their member schools. One told this writer that the state tends to “back-end load” any new testing program, meaning that new tests are created and implemented, the achievement bar (standard) is raised, and then teachers must adjust to the new expectations after-the-fact by scrambling for training, resources, equipment, and supplies.

TAKS reportedly will be built on the fully-developed, comprehensive state curriculum framework, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). In addition to more sensitively mapping onto TEKS, according to state officials and official state education (TEA) publications, TAKS will measure student higher order thinking and problem-solving skills with greater reliability and validity. Students will not only have to be able to analyze, calculate, and synthesize answers, but will have to exhibit their ability to apply these skills to real-world problems on the new paper-and-pencil TAKS test. Shown below in Figure 1 is an example of the kinds of questions that have appeared on each succeeding generation of Texas high stakes tests: TABS (1980), TEAMS (1985), TAAS (1990), TAKS (2003). To the extent that these sample items from the various exit-level mathematics tests over the last 20 years are representative of the difficulty of the test in general, the types and complexity of the skills that Texas students will need to exhibit in ensuing years will be greatly increased.

One of the positive characteristics of the Texas accountability system is the plethora of data and reports that the TEA generates for use and decision making by local school districts and the fairly rapid turnaround time in which it is generated and fed back. Local districts and campuses receive state test results and item analyses prior to the end of the school year in which the test was administered. This allows for summer and pre-fall planning and curriculum/instructional changes for the ensuing school year. This is, of course, one of the advantages of a paper-and-pencil, single test, single score assessment system. Texas, with more than 20 years of experience in this industry, has clearly raised the art of data generation and feedback to a new level.

Although there are many more statistics than are listed below, the following were observed as useful and being utilized by CSCISD classroom teachers and administrators to inform decisions regarding the local curriculum and related instructional strategies:

 

•          a thorough test-item analysis for each student test taker for each objective for each state curriculum (TEKS) content area

 

•          the Texas Learning Index (TLI)—an indicator that is generated each testing period that describes each student’s performance on the TAAS reading and mathematics test. A test-equating statistical method is used to determine the TLI and therefore measure how a

Figure 1: “From TABS to TAKS.” From the Dallas Morning News, April 22, 2002.

 

student has performed in relation to that year’s passing standard, which had been equated to a 70 when the TAAS was implemented in 1990. The student TLI can be “rolled up” to generate a campus and/or district TLI.

 

•          a campus or district Comparability Index (CI), which allows local educators to compare the performance of their student body with other Texas school districts with comparable student characteristics, e.g., ethnicity, economic status, etc.

 

•          a comprehensive disaggregation of the data by student ethnicity and racial composition, economic status, and gender, etc.

As previously mentioned, Texas administers one of the most high-profile student assessment programs in the country. This fact gained national attention in the presidential campaign of 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush campaigned on the Republican ticket and won the race for President of the United States. That event, as well as at least one prominent lawsuit, GI Forum vs. Texas Education Agency, brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) spawned a flurry of research and study on the annual, and sometimes dramatic, year-to-year increase in state test scores. MALDEF alleged that the TAAS exit exam had illegal, discriminatory impact on black and Hispanic students. On January 7, 2000, Judge Edward C. Prado ruled against MALDEF and for the state of Texas on the grounds that the TAAS was an integral and necessary part of the state’s education reform plan. Test score gains on the order of 50-100 percent from 1994 through 2001, which some have called the “Texas Miracle in Education,” were not uncommon. Table 9 presents an example of state tenth grade TAAS results over eight testing periods.

Table 9

Percentage of Students Passing the TAAS: Grade 10, 1994-2001

State of Texas

Researchers have generally attributed the rise in test scores in Texas and other states with similar criterion-reference testing programs, at least in part, to the following phenomena:

 

•          student familiarity with the test items

 

•          improvement in student test-taking skills

 

•          a relatively low threshold level for what constitutes proficiency or passing on the state criterion-referenced exam

 

•          evidence of schools moving selected students off the test-taking list, declaring a greater percentage as test-exempt, special education students

 

•          as the population grows (see Table 1), categorizing a greater percentage of students as test-exempt, limited English proficiency (LEP) students

 

•          an increase in the student dropout rate caused by high stakes tests, especially among minority populations between the ninth and twelfth grades. Although not presented to suggest that such is the case for the state or its rural school districts, Table 10 presents enrollment data from the Houston Independent School District. The data are instructive relative to this reported dropout trend. The other metropolitan school districts in the state (Dallas, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Austin, etc.) tend to exhibit the same pattern.

What does the public in Texas make of HST? How has it permeated the culture? To be sure, some form of HST has been in place now for 20 years. A vast majority of the classroom teaching force knows no other system of assessment. Many younger teachers grew up taking some form of the state HST as students in the public schools. As Pollard (2002) said, “As we move away from the classroom, and through the various levels of the educational bureaucracy—first principals, then progressing to central office administrators, school board members, state board of education members, state legislators, and governors—support for standardized testing grows.” Observations made by the case study visitation team of how test results are used and how they have permeated the culture of Texas include the following:

 

•          Scores are announced in the state’s leading newspapers, which routinely sell out on those days.

 

•          District and campus accountability ratings (ARs) are posted on the TEA Web page. Huge “hit” rates are recorded on the day of initial posting of the results.

 

•          Rural communities post signs at the city limits, proudly trumpeting high district ARs.

 

•          Real estate agents unabashedly utilize high campus ARs to promote home sales in selected school neighborhoods.

 

•          Bumper stickers appear with messages such as “My daughter (or son) attends XYZ Elementary School-An EXEMPLARY campus!”

 

•          Parents decide to enroll or move their children in or out of schools based on the reports in newspaper articles and statewide magazines (e.g., Texas Monthly).

 

•          Banners are hung from school buildings displaying the latest positive TEA AR for that campus.

Thus, it can be pronounced safely that high stakes testing in Texas has surely “grafted” itself onto the state elementary and secondary education system. Short of a new court decision, a rollback” of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, or an overwhelming groundswell of opposition from the public reversing the current order of business, HST is here to stay.

Table 10

Houston (TX) Independent School District Student Enrollment by Grade

                

 Source: HISD Profiles, 1994, 2000 

 

The Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (TRSI)

The Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (TRSI) began with a planning grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1997-98. TRSI is located at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU)-Canyon (near Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle). The Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD) joined about 20 other rural Texas school districts in the initial planning grant year to advise WTAMU project personnel regarding the major services and technical assistance interventions needed by rural Texas mathematics and science classroom teachers to improve and systemically reform K-12 education in these two vital curriculum content areas. Upon the receipt of a 5-year, $10 million operational grant from NSF, CSCISD became a member of TRSI Cohort I along with 19 other rural Texas school districts beginning with the 1998-99 school year. Most of the original 20 TRSI Cohort I districts were the same as those that participated in the planning grant. To be eligible to become TRSI members, school districts were required to meet specific student socioeconomic and population guidelines (a poverty rate equal to or greater than 30 percent and a county population less than or equal to 20,000) and to sign an agreement to participate and collaborate under specific TRSI guidelines.

The TRSI program is built on a fivefold mission of technical assistance and capacity building in mathematics and science education in member districts. Although not emphasized as a component of the primary mission of the TRSI collaborative, technology education was utilized as a tool to enhance mathematics and science reform. The five TRSI program objectives, called “attributes,” are built around and mirror the six NSF drivers of systemic reform:

 

•          Successful implementation of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), the state standards-based curriculum framework, in mathematics and science

 

•          District policies supporting TEKS mathematics and science implementation and systemic reform through campus administrative support and alignment of district improvement plans with TRSI attributes

 

•          Alignment of resources to support systemic reform efforts and TEKS mathematics and science implementation

 

•          Stakeholders’ commitments to systemic reform of district mathematics and science education

 

•          All district students reaching high academic standards

To achieve these objectives, the TRSI management team engaged the resources of a uniquely Texas collaborative of participating rural school districts, colleges and universities, the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas State Systemic Initiative (TSSI), regional Education Service Centers (ESCs), the Texas Engineering and Experiment Station (TEES), the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and other stakeholders in elementary and secondary mathematics and science in Texas, e.g., the Southwest Educational Development Lab (SEDL) in Austin and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

TRSI utilizes its $10 million, 5-year grant from NSF primarily by

 

1.         hiring and strategically locating regional education specialists, most of whom are former senior classroom science and mathematics teachers. These specialists provide technical assistance to participating TRSI district classroom teachers on a scheduled and on-call basis in such areas as aligning local curriculum with TEKS, vertical and horizontal alignment of district mathematics and science curricula, implementation of inquiry-based teaching methodologies, use of appropriate and specific mathematics and science teaching materials (e.g., Foss kits) and tools (e.g., graphing calculators), and other topics as identified by local classroom teachers and administrators.

 

2.         sponsoring a statewide summer institute that brings teachers, administrators, and community representatives together to learn and share regarding TRSI, TEA, and local district implementation activities focused on the TRSI attributes

 

3.         conducting state and regional subject (mathematics and science) and grade level-specific institutes for TRSI classroom teacher partners, the content of which is aimed at addressing specific student achievement deficiencies identified by TRSI staff from the state-mandated assessment program

 

4.         sponsoring regional workshops within the state of Texas on topics identified by classroom teachers and administrators as related to the TRSI attributes

 

5.         purchasing materials and equipment for loan to participating TRSI school districts to address identified mathematics and/or science systemic reform initiatives related to the TRSI attributes

 

6.         assisting local districts with the identification and acquisition of state, federal, and private grants to supplement the local operating budget, e.g., technology hardware, software, training and connectivity and science equipment for the early elementary grades (to begin the process of gearing up for the new fifth-grade science assessment mandated under TAKS)

 

7.         leveraging local resources, e.g., participating district personnel time and effort; district and ESC facilities, networks, and equipment; university facilities and expertise; state agency expertise and guidance; and other stakeholder in-kind contributions to achieve the TRSI attributes

Local participating TRSI school districts receive few, if any, cash grants. They identify and pledge the time and support of classroom teachers and administrators, called “partners.” Districts also coordinate the deployment of substitute teachers in their mathematics and science classrooms so that TRSI teacher partners can participate in learning, implementing, and sharing within and among participating TRSI districts; purchase necessary software to supplement recommended instructional equipment and materials; and receive release time for in-district planning and workshops so teacher partners can share the results of their TRSI training and assistance. TRSI underwrites the cost of participant travel and per diem and pay for substitute classroom teachers.

In 2001-02, TRSI administratively divided its programming and service delivery into 2 regional sites: one continuing at WTAMU-Canyon, and the other at the South Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (STRSI) housed at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC). Because of its geographic proximity (south of San Antonio), CSCISD joined 17 other eligible rural school districts in the 2001-02 school year to form STRSI. Ten new and eligible rural Texas school districts joined STRSI in 2002, with another 2 anticipated in the 2003-04 school year. This new alignment was “lubricated” with an additional 5-year, $6 million grant from NSF.

CSCISD has been an active and full partner in the TRSI planning and programming process since the inception of the planning grant in 1997-98. 2002-03 marked the fifth full year of CSCISD personnel participation in the project. District personnel report that CSCISD has been heavily involved in TRSI and that this has helped improve scores in mathematics. Appreciation was expressed, especially for the training that CSCISD personnel received. Campus administrators and teachers independently and repeatedly corroborated the fact that a “lot” of TRSI materials have been brought back from TRSI workshops and incorporated into the district’s curriculum. This seems to have occurred at all grade levels in the district.

One mathematics teacher said he received NSF assistance through his junior and senior years in college. Also, some of the district teachers were awarded college graduate (advanced degree) credit supported by a TEA grant. This is another finite example of how TRSI helped leverage funds, in this case from state resources, in support of the improvement of mathematics and science at the local level.

TRSI’s main impacts on CSCISD and across the collaborative appear to be in the areas of staff development, increased classroom teacher curriculum leadership and pedagogical awareness, acquisition of instructional equipment, and curricular reform. One teacher spoke of being involved in an ocean drilling education program at Texas A&M-College Station (TAMU). He was trained there, then “brought back” sophisticated equipment to CSCISD and used it to develop an online curriculum for his students. He also said the school district received five desktop computers and related equipment to support this program. TAMU faculty continue to be involved with TRSI participant school districts in revising their district science curriculum based on this experience. TAMU involvement in this project was funded by a state Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) grant, another example of TRSI leveraging funds from other sources to enhance reform in science education in member schools. This CSCISD teacher summarized by saying that it would have been impossible to do any of this without the TRSI’s assistance.

Several other CSCISD teachers echoed their affirmation of the benefits of TRSI membership. They said they need training in inquiry teaching methods, grant proposal writing, and the use and integration of equipment into their instructional plan. They said, “TRSI gives us all this and more. They come to our campus . They (the TRSI specialists) teach demonstration lessons for us. It is a wonderful way to get a feel for how a new instructional technique might work with my very own students. Their workshops are more in-depth, hands-on, and involve smaller groups.” It was also noted that TRSI has stimulated PK-1 teachers in the district to be interested in getting their students involved in a science fair.

On another theme, CSCISD teacher partners noted that TRSI workshops are of higher quality than the ESC Region 20 workshops. “Region 20 serves too many teachers and to them, we (in Carrizo Springs) are only a number. They tend to cater to teachers in the San Antonio area and not those of us in remote, rural districts.”

One veteran science teacher who has made extensive use of TRSI services to develop curriculum based on field trips for a study of indigenous animals and associated viruses said emphatically that “the TRSI workshops are the most outstanding in-service training I have ever experienced.” A mathematics teacher said that a TRSI-sponsored algebra institute provided really good training for high school mathematics teachers.

On balance, the CSCISD TRSI teacher partners think that students enjoy science and mathematics more as a result of TRSI’s impact and influence on the content and the methodologies being employed. The teacher partners see improvements in mathematics achievement test scores, but little improvement in student interest. On the other hand, there appeared to be limited improvement in science test scores, but a noticeable increase in student interest. Some teacher and administrator informants reasoned that this increase may be due, in large part, to an increased emphasis in teaching science in the district as a result of TRSI training in inquiry-based methods. The reverse trend in mathematics may be explained by the district’s adoption of the Saxon Math Series (see discussion, p. 28).

Overall, the TRSI teacher and administrator partners interviewed by the case study visitation team were extremely positive regarding their experiences with TRSI. Although this group did not include many of the rank and file elementary and secondary classroom teachers in Carrizo Springs, we believe this testimony is an accurate and representative reflection of the sense of the CSCISD teachers. The teacher partners include department heads and senior teachers who constitute the role models in the professional ranks at CSCISD.

Presence and/or Progress of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Drivers of Educational Systemic Reform in the Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD)

A major focal point of the case study visitation team’s work was an attempt to determine evidence of the presence or progress on NSF’s “Six Drivers of Educational System Reform” in science and mathematics education in CSCISD. In the following section, these findings are summarized.

Driver #1: Implementation of a comprehensive, standards-based curricula as represented in instructional practice, including student assessment, in every classroom, laboratory, and other learning experience provided through the system and its partners.

It is abundantly clear that the education reforms in CSCISD are driven by the state curriculum standards, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and their attendant high-stakes testing program, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), which will be replaced by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in 2003 and beyond. Administrators and teachers throughout CSCISD are focused directly on ensuring that their students will be able to pass the state HST.

Much of the testimony the case study visitation team received, in one form or another, pertained to the Texas school accountability system. It was noted that state alternative tests are given for special education students and that their scores are not included in the state accountability ratings. One principal noted apologetically that her campus had just missed receiving a state Recognized AR by .6 of a point (on the 2001 TAAS). She said further that “We are looking at areas of deficiency. We must meet the criterion of having 80 percent of our students pass the minimum acceptable standard.” Other teachers spoke with pride about how well their students had scored on the TAAS. For example, one respondent noted that “We scored the highest ever on the TAAS eighth grade social studies and science tests (91 percent).” A CSCISD mathematics teacher noted that “The focus of our federal programs school-wide is to improve our students’ performance on the state assessments.”

The case study visitation team interviewed many teachers who noted that they feel tremendous test pressure. Some quotes from this respondent group are included below:

 

•          “All we hear about is the TAAS.”

 

•          “Our curriculum is test-driven.”

 

•          “Testing has done good, but it has also done considerable harm. As a consequence of our stress on testing, our kids are not well grounded; and we’ve reduced our provision of instruction in music and the arts.”

 

•          “The state is setting up a certain percentage of kids for failure. We know who they are and it is heart-breaking, because there is little we can do to stop this train!”

 

•          “The coming requirement that third graders will have to pass the reading test to be promoted to fourth grade will dampen the interest and enthusiasm for education and self-concept of those who fail.”

 

•          “Principals across the state are either leaving education or carefully checking their retirement dates in anticipation of leaving.”

 

•          “Kids can infer, but they can’t put it on paper. They can’t transfer that skill to the state test.”

 

•          “We fit our curriculum to the state test. We’ve learned how to get the kids to be able to pass the TAAS.”

 

•          “If the pre-K teachers can get the vocabulary across to the kids, we are going to be able to pass the reading test in 2003.”

•          “We are under tremendous pressure. The state is predicting already that over 40 percent of our kids (statewide) won’t pass to get their diploma (because of the mathematics test).”

 

•          “Now in second grade, we are concentrating on reading so much that we are pushing math aside. That’s occurring because we know, or at least can predict, that many third grade students are likely to fail the new test (TAKS) requirements for passing into fourth grade.”

Almost all the responses referred to the state testing program, which is driving the curriculum. These remarks corroborate findings in a number of independent studies in other parts of the country on the effects of high stakes testing.

An open expression of fear and trepidation regarding the difficulty of the new test, TAKS, was recorded during the first visit of the case study team in October 2001. However, some relief on the part of some of these same CSCISD teacher informants was noted in May 2002 after students had taken a sample field test of the TAKS. Teachers, in interacting with students after the TAKS field test, seemed to be more at ease about the uncertainty of future student performance. Some of the mathematics teachers attributed this development to the adoption and use of the Saxon Math series in the CSCISD lower and middle elementary grades. Saxon Math was created by the late John Saxon, a veteran Air Force pilot who, while teaching mathematics at a junior college in Oklahoma, observed that many students were experiencing difficulty in acquiring and maintaining basic skill levels in mathematics computation and problem solving. Saxon Math is built on a repetitive, drill-and-practice model of instruction that requires constant review and reinforcement of mathematics conceptual learning. The CSCISD teachers tend to be very supportive of Saxon Math. They say it is tied to the state curriculum framework, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) objectives. It also provides supporting material and practice drills that reinforce the lessons. Teachers don’t have to spend extra time and effort searching out additional materials and worksheets. Those teachers who voiced some criticism of Saxon Math said that the repetitive, drill-and-practice (often referred to in education circles as “drill-and-kill”) routine of the textbook material tends to dull students’ enthusiasm for mathematics. Thus, they recommend that it be supplemented from time to time with other exercises. More than one CSCISD supporter of the Saxon Math program averred that in mathematics, “the Saxon Math program is the ultimate way to get our students to pass the state test.”

During the Spring 2002 visit to Carrizo Springs, the case study visitation team visited the Big Wells PK-8 campus. The Big Wells TRSI science teacher partner and campus principal informed us that, due to the district’s stress on science influenced by TRSI, science is taught every day to the fourth graders. This is also a reflection of the fact that the TAKS will require statewide testing of fifth grade students in science. At the same time, there seemed to be low concern in CSCISD among the junior high school science teacher partners that moving the statewide science test to the fifth grade will deflect resources away from the eighth grade level.

While many educators in Carrizo Springs speak with pride of the relatively high percentage of students passing TAAS, they don’t focus much on the reality that fairly low percentages of the students pass the TAAS at the proficient level (TLI=85 or above). However, depending on the analysis, the facts sometimes belie the impressions. One such study was conducted by the Just For The Kids Foundation (JFTK) in Austin. In collaboration with the Charles A. Dana Center and the University of Texas, JFTK conducted a thorough analysis of test proficiency on the TAAS. The JFTK methodology, reported most recently in the November 2001 issue of the Texas Monthly, utilized the following steps:

 

1.         All PK-12 campuses in the state were divided into four quadrants, based on the socioeconomic status of the study body. The state measures this by taking a count of students receiving free and reduced price lunches and calling it the percentage of economically disadvantaged.

 

2.         After determining which socioeconomic quadrant a campus was in, each was assigned to one of five quintiles based on the student body’s performance on the TAAS mathematics and reading tests.

 

3.         Five stars (⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆) were awarded to those campuses in the top quintile (20 percent) in their economic class, four stars (⋆⋆⋆⋆) for the next 20 percent, down to one star (⋆) for the bottom 20 percent.

 

4.         A gap score was also computed and assigned to each campus in this analysis. The greater the negative gap score, the farther that campus was from the top scorers in its economic class.

The authors of the JFTK study assert that this is a more intellectually defensible way to measure the quality of schools. When the characteristics of the students are held constant, the assumption is that the intervention of schooling can be assessed with greater reliability and validity than if the analysis lumps all campuses together, regardless of student socioeconomic, ethnic, or racial characteristics.

According to the JFTK analysis of the 2001 TAAS reading and mathematics test results, the Carrizo Springs High School gained five stars (⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆) and was judged one of the TOP TEN HIGH SCHOOLS in Texas in its economic class on this measure of academic proficiency. The community was justifiably proud of this accomplishment. A banner announcing the accomplishment was hung at the entrance to the high school, the local newspaper trumpeted the announcement, and the patrons celebrated. The JFTK announcement was heralded locally in the same manner as if one of the athletic teams had “taken state.” This can’t be all bad news in an era in which our society tends to overglorify athletics to the exclusion of academics.

Still, the notion persists that the major task at hand is to get the maximum number of students to pass the state test at the minimum level (70). One junior high school science teacher partner stated, “It isn’t right, but that’s what we are paid to do. That’s what gets recognized, published, and rewarded.”

It is clear, based on statements made by other CSCISD teacher partners, that the TRSI program is aimed primarily at helping teachers align and teach curriculum focused on the state curriculum and high stakes test. Other forms of assessment such as teacher in-class grading, norm-referenced standardized tests, and portfolio types of projects were seldom mentioned. Few, if any of the rural school districts in Texas, including CSCISD, administer national norm-referenced standardized tests because of the prohibitive cost.

Beyond the necessary preoccupation with state testing, other district efforts in the area of curriculum reform include block scheduling, small class size, availability of computers labs, the fact that every teacher has access to the Internet in his/her classroom, the growing number of parents who volunteer to assist teachers, and the apparent districtwide emphasis on employing manipulatives and hands-on approaches to education. The junior high currently employs block scheduling, but the high school does not. The CSCISD junior high TRSI teacher partners stressed the benefits of having larger blocks of in-class time of junior high students devoted to learning and content as opposed to so much of the class period being used for orientation and closing activities. Although the district didn’t share a written policy on this, the case study team assumes that homework, in the traditional sense, is done during the class period under the teacher’s supervision rather than expecting it to be done at home with all the distractions that might exist there.

Finally, further evidence that teaching and learning are being driven in the district by the state HST occurred during a conversation about how CSCISD teachers are evaluated. In compliance with a state mandate, every teacher and every other professional staff member—i.e., campus administrators (principals), central office personnel, counselors, technology directors, etc.—is also evaluated on the basis of student performance on the statewide high stakes test.

Driver #2: Development of a coherent, consistent set of policies that supports: provision of high quality science and mathematics education for each student; excellent preparation, continuing education, and support for each mathematics and science teacher (including all elementary teachers); and administrative support for all persons who work to dramatically improve achievement among all students served by the system.

In reviewing the narrative in this section, it may be useful for the reader to consider that policies can be viewed as canons that document policies and procedures that organizational members and their constituents regularly understand, accept, and adhere to. Or they may include practices, often undocumented and informal, that the employees and their clients practice and institutionalize as their way of doing business. In the final analysis, the formal and informal policies and procedures coalesce to constitute the culture and reputation of the organization. Both seem to exist in the CSCISD. Every school district in Texas is required to prepare, disseminate, and use district and campus improvement plans (DIPs and CIPs). These are to be reviewed, updated annually and used to inform district and campus program practice.

For purposes of this discussion, Table 11 provides a classification of Carrizo Springs district (DIP) and campus (CIP) objectives proposed by CSCISD teachers and administrators for improving the district education program. The numbers shown in the cells in Table 11 indicate the number of objectives that the district reports in its approved plan of improvement for the 2001-02 school year under with respect to major areas of emphasis within the district education program. For instance, five written campus improvement objectives are related to the state-mandated TAAS test proposed for attention at both the CSCISD junior high school campus and the Big Wells elementary campus.

In total, this analysis reveals an institutional (districtwide) plan that reinforces the notion and culture that the end game of education in the district is acutely sensitive to the state high stakes testing program and the influence it has on the public’s opinion of the quality of education. Twenty-three of the 64 district program improvement objectives relate directly to the Texas school accountability program, which includes a reporting of dropout and attendance rates at each campus, in addition to ever-important test scores. A clear message is imparted that attention to and achievement on the state tests are of high importance. Assessment or preparation for the coming statewide tests are even stated as a high priority for the early elementary (PK-2) students.

Another indicator of the mathematics and science education policies in CSCISD centered around discussions of altering the content and sequence of the high school curriculum in preparation for the coming statewide TAAS to TAKS testing changes (see Table 8).

Science, social studies, and English/language arts (reading under TAAS) will be added to the statewide high stakes exams (HST) in Texas as a requirement for graduation. Also, these three content exam areas along with mathematics will be moved to the first semester of the junior year in high school. The science exam will assess student knowledge and skills on the Texas curriculum standards (TEKS), essentially those covered through the end of the sophomore year. The content to be tested will consist nominally of a beginning high school course in biology and some combination of chemistry and physics. Beginning Fall 2002, the Carrizo Springs High

School teachers plan to offer biology at the freshman level and an integrated physics/chemistry IPC offering in the sophomore year.

Shown below in Table 12 is a “before (TAKS) and after” schematic of the course offerings in science and mathematics at the CSCISD high school. In order to receive a high school diploma, Texas students are required to pass three credits (years) of science and mathematics and four years of social studies/language arts in addition to passing the TAKS as described above. Typically, mathematics consists of some combination of Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry to meet the three-course requirement. Science includes biology, IPC, and some form of “conceptual” physics or chemistry, especially for students who terminate their science course-taking experiences with the state three-course minimum requirement.

Table 11

A Classification of CSCISD District and Campus Improvement Plan Goals and Objectives: 2001-02

Professional development for CSCISD science and mathematics teachers is stimulated primarily by involvement in TRSI activities. Professional development in this and other TRSI partner districts is acutely sensitive to

 

•          the state curriculum standards (TEKS)

 

•          alignment of the local curriculum and daily lesson plans with TEKS

 

•          teaching strategies that best deliver student understanding of TEKS

 

•          assessment (TAKS)

Table 12

 

Science and Mathematics Course Offerings at CSCISD “Before and After” TAKS

* “Average” students

** “Advanced” students

Most of the TRSI mathematics curriculum workshops deal with vertical alignment of the local curriculum from third grade through eleventh grade, use of manipulatives in the lower and middle grades, use of graphing calculators in the upper grades, and identification of gaps and/or overlaps in the scope and sequence of the district’s mathematics content presentation.

Teaching strategies dovetail with the curriculum. Although the state recommends strongly that at least 40 percent of science instruction be laboratory oriented, we believe that CSCISD, like most other districts, does not and will not meet this recommendation unless and until the state derives a way to test student learning reflecting this kind of teaching. Some say the new TAKS will move the schools much closer to this goal. Several years of administering the TAKS and research on the results will be needed to affirm or reject this assertion.

Administrative support for quality science and mathematics instruction is excellent in Carrizo Springs. This is manifested through

 

•          district participation in TRSI

 

•          coordination of the weekly district and campus calendars so that teacher planning time is scheduled as an integral part of the curriculum

 

•          feedback of test data

 

•          aggressive pursuit and acquisition of available grants, especially for the support of technology (one or more computer labs at every campus, in-room Internet access, etc.)

 

•           release time for teachers to participate in selected TRSI and Region 20 workshops, etc.

In summary, this NSF driver of systemic reform is being addressed quite well in the CSCISD. Policies are developed and revised according to student performance on the state testing program. Gaps and overlaps in curriculum coverage are identified, and attempts are made to address them. Not all teachers agree precisely on the specific steps to carry out the process, but the case study visitation team generally concurred that dialogue in Carrizo Springs is positive and supports a number of the arguments in favor of statewide high stakes testing.                

Driver #3: Convergence of the usage of all resources that are designed for or that reasonably could be used to support science and mathematics education—fiscal, intellectual, materials, curricular, and extra-curricular–into a focused and unitary program to constantly upgrade, renew, and improve the educational program in mathematics and science for all students.

The Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD) is to be commended for making a concerted and effective effort to identify all available resources to support and enhance the district’s instructional program. The district administrators and teachers have been especially successful in identifying and acquiring competitive and block grants to serve special student populations and special needs across the CSCISD student population. Some of these programs for the 2000-01 school year are listed below:

Grant Category

 

•          Bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL)

•          Career and Technology Education

•          Gifted and Talented Education

•          Compensatory Education

•          Special Education

Amount

 

$624,059

$557,236

$232,296

$947,959

$909,104

Although these program titles do not speak directly to science and mathematics instruction, the instructional components of each program are focused on helping students improve their basic skills relative to the state high stakes testing program. The emphasis is on mathematics, reading, and writing, which are the basic skill sets included in the Texas school accountability system.

Technology is another impressive area of resource acquisition and convergence in the CSCISD. One of the site visit team members who is a veteran researcher and observer of rural education remarked that “the technology infrastructure in this school district is the most extensive that I have seen in a rural community.” A brief description of the system was presented on page 12. Because the wireless system works well on the relatively flat terrain of southwest Texas, and because CSCISD has aggressively pursued grants and state funding in support of its technology program, officials from districts like Houston and San Antonio are visiting CSCISD to study the design of the infrastructure. Technology grants and eligible federal flow-through monies that the district has captured in the last two years include those listed below:

 

•          E-rate                                                                          $250,000

•          Texas Education Agency                                            $578,000

•          Technology Infrastructure Fund                                 $850,000

E-rate is a federal technology support program that CSCISD participates in and leverages a good return on because of its relatively low socioeconomic status. Revenue for the E-rate program is generated through federal telecommunications surcharges on home and business telephones. The Texas technology programs are funded by the state in support of public school district integration of technology into the curriculum and administration. An admitted weakness in the CSCISD technology picture appears to be the lack of a well-conceived plan for integrating computer hardware and software in the classroom. Part-time aides are employed at each building to assist classroom teachers on this challenge but, by and large, teachers are left to their own initiative to determine ways to utilize this rich resource. This area is being addressed further with the beginning of the 2002-03 school year.

Because of its technology advantage and TRSI membership, CSCISD partners with a lot of other organizations, some of which are listed below:

 

•          The local 4-H club has started a “cyber-seniors” program to help senior citizens in the community become acquainted with computers.

 

•          Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde offers distance learning linked courses through its SWET-NET system, which allows CSCISD students to take college-level science and mathematics credit courses by dual enrollment through the CSCISD interactive videoconferencing system.

 

•          The state cooperative extension network has used one of the CSCISD Internet-linked computer labs for “e-commerce” sessions.

 

•          Internet field trips are available to students; visit www.vftn.org for an overview of this resource.

 

•          The University of Texas at San Antonio offers a videoconference series on career information and the college experience for CSCISD high school and junior high students.

CSCISD teachers and administrators also related how the district converges the usage of all resources available in the community to support science and mathematics education. At the strong recommendation of TRSI leaders, administrators meet at least once per month to learn about and support what teachers are doing in efforts to reform and improve science and mathematics education in CSCISD. As a consequence, the Big Wells elementary campus is moving to establish labs for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade in order to boost learning in science. “We have to reinforce the natural curiosity of our students regarding nature” was one comment. “We probably paid too much attention to TAAS and not enough to science.” This activity probably is influenced also with the coming of TAKS, which moves the statewide science exam “down” to fifth grade.

TRSI was given much credit by elementary teacher partners as well as by secondary science and mathematics teacher partners for triggering new ways of thinking about teaching, opening new vistas in the minds of the teachers about how to make science and mathematics fun and enjoyable for students. One TRSI mathematics specialist was cited as being especially helpful by visiting schools and getting teachers with like needs together to brainstorm solutions to common teaching and learning challenges.

In general, it seems clear that CSCISD has received substantial support via its relationship with TRSI for identifying, acquiring, and making use of a wide range of curricular and technology resources in the district’s programs.

Driver #4: Broad-based support from parents, policymakers, institutions of higher education, business and industry, foundations, and other segments of the community for the goals and collective value of the program, based on rich presentations of the ideas behind the program, the evidence gathered about its successes and its failures, and critical discussions of its efforts.

There is ample evidence that community leaders are very much interested and active in supporting the Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD). Education is not just another activity in town that “sort-of” exists on an island, away from the mainstream of the community’s culture. Several examples of ways in which this observation manifests itself in the CSCISD are listed below:

 

•          Local civic clubs and other community organizations support a major project each year to raise funds for higher education scholarships for CSCISD graduates.

 

•          In cooperation with school officials, police and judges play an active role in enhancing attendance (96%) and combating problems of dropouts (2.5%).

 

•          Many of the school staff have deep and longstanding roots in the community. They appear to be known, respected, and appreciated for their continued residence in and service to the district and community.

 

•          Parents from every campus are represented on a districtwide advisory committee. Each campus provides training for parents on helping their children with schoolwork, parenting and, in general, raising their expectations about schooling as a primary goal for their children.

 

•          School officials speak of a sense of community pride in the schools. The visible academic accomplishment of the students on the Just For The Kids Foundation Top Ten High School recognition and the fact that the high school band has won the regional band contest ten years in a row serve to strengthen and sustain the community’s belief in the district’s quality.

 

•          School officials note that elementary parents are supportive of science and mathematics learning, while secondary (high school) parents are less supportive, at least of their children’s engagement in science and mathematics at advanced levels.

 

•          Citizens without children in the schools are very supportive. They know the community’s welfare is tied to the schools.

 

•          “They try to educate ALL the children,” said the city manager. “They try to show the students that a high school education is just a beginning.”

Although there are no institutions of higher education in the immediate vicinity of CSCISD, there are several colleges/universities in the area. The major provider is Southwest Texas Junior College (SWTJC) at Uvalde, which serves an 11-county area, including Dimmit County and Carrizo Springs. SWTJC operates an academic attendance center in Crystal City, some 15 miles north of Carrizo Springs. Sul Ross State, a Texas regional university in the Big Bend country, has branch campus operations in Eagle Pass (45 miles), Uvalde (50 miles), and Crystal City. These provide opportunities for teachers in Carrizo Springs to work toward advanced degrees without having to drive unreasonable distances. There appears to be little or no joint programming with area colleges and/or universities directed at elementary science and mathematics education in the district. This is another reason the TRSI effort has been viewed as so effective and helpful to CSCISD teachers.

Driver #5: Accumulation of a broad and deep array of evidence that the program is enhancing student achievement, through a set of indices that might include achievement test scores, higher level courses passed, college admission rates, college majors, Advanced Placement Tests taken, portfolio assessment, and ratings from summer employers, and that demonstrate that students are generally achieving at a significantly higher level in science and mathematics.

The basic indices that drive and shape the academic program at Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District are almost entirely those from the Texas high stakes testing program. This is true throughout the state of Texas. Attendance, dropout, and graduation rates are also monitored closely because they, too, impact the campus and district accountability ratings that the district receives from the state agency. High school completion rates will replace the year-to-year dropout rates in the new accountability ratings that will be announced beginning with the 2003-04 school year. Apparently, accurate dropout rates are extremely difficult to measure with the mobile population that our current society presents to the schools and because of the dramatic “disappearance” rates of students between the ninth and twelfth grades (see Table 10).

CSCISD also collects and uses college admission test data (ACT and/or SAT test scores), percentage of students attempting a postsecondary experience, and surveys of recent graduates relative to their beliefs and opinions about the quality and appropriateness of their high school education at CSCISD. Table 13 indicates some good news/bad news on indicators other than state test data. Trend-line conclusions should be drawn with caution because (1) this is only a 2-year snapshot of data on Carrizo Springs, Region 20, and the state of Texas; (2) CSCISD had only started participation in TRSI activities and programming in the fall semester 1998; and (3) the district annexed Asherton ISD beginning in the Fall 1999.

A number of non-state-test indicators were the good news areas for CSCISD:

 

•          a steady attendance rate of 95.4 percent

 

•          a small increase in the percentage of high school graduates

 

•          a decrease in the four-year dropout rate (15.3% to 13.6%)

 

•          a dramatic increase in the percentage of students completing the state- recommended high school diploma (19.9% to 48.9%)

 

•          a noticeable rise in the percentage of student examinees at or above the state criteria for Advanced Placement (AP)/International Baccalaureate (IB) participation

 

•          an increase in the percentage of students scoring at or above the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) equivalency on the TAAS

 

•          a continued increase in the percentage of students taking either the ACT or SAT

Some of the CSCISD indicators were not-so-good-news:

 

•          a four-year dropout rate far in excess of the region or state

 

•          a decrease in the percentage of students taking AP/IB tests (this may be due, in part, to the finding that students prefer to take the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) in lieu of the AP exam in selected subjects because they believe it is easier, and if passed, will count for college credit).

 

•          declines in SAT/ACT group scores and criteria percentages while the region and state were improving slightly

Table 13

Selected Non-HST Indices of Student Performance in CSCISD: 1999 and 2000

 

Source: CSCISD Academic Excellence Indicator System Report 2001 

Table 14 presents a different snapshot of the Carrizo Springs schools. It was designed for the purposes of this case study. The analysis methodology is borrowed from the Comparable Improvement index used by the Texas Education Agency. It attempts to present a picture of the district in comparison with nine other peer districts in the Texas Education Service Center Region 20. The following are the major variables used in this comparison:

 

•          school district size (PK-12 enrollment)

 

•          district finances

 

            ►          taxable property value per pupil (a measure of wealth)

            ►          the local assessed tax rate (a measure of effort)

            ►          per-pupil expenditures

 

•          student body characteristics

 

            ►          ethnicity

            ►          economic status

 

►          state test (TAAS) performance

 

►          state accountability rating (AR)

Eight steps were employed in conducting the analysis and building the descriptive data presentation (Table 14):

 

1.         Start with the 50 Texas independent school districts that are served by ESC Region 20.

 

2.         Remove 4 districts that are a part of or attached to a military base and thus have no local taxing authority (46 remaining).

 

3.         Remove 6 districts farthest from CSCISD in the percentage of Hispanic students (40 remaining).

 

4.         Remove 6 districts farthest from CSCISD in the percentage of white students (34 remaining).

 

5.         Remove 6 districts farthest from CSCISD in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students (28 remaining).

 

6.         Remove 6 districts farthest from CSCISD on the size of the student body (PK-12 enrollment) (22 remaining).

 

7.         Remove 6 districts farthest from CSCISD on taxable value per pupil (TVPP) (16 remaining).

 

8.         Remove the 6 districts farthest from CSCISD on the locally assessed tax rate (LATR). This leaves a total of 9 districts plus CSCISD (10 remaining) for comparison.

Table 14

CSCISD-Region 20 Peer School District Comparison Group on Selected Variables: 2000-01

In the data presented for 2000-01, when compared with nine other Texas Region 20 “like-type” school districts, CSCISD

 

•          ranks third out of 10 in enrollment

 

•          has the second highest percentage of Hispanic students

 

•          enrolls the third highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students

 

•          exhibits the third highest four-year dropout rate

 

•          in the financial area:

 

            ►          incurs the fourth highest per-pupil expenditures

            ►          is seventh among 10 in local property values per pupil (a measure of district wealth or ability to finance education at the local level)

            ►          is seventh among 10 in locally assessed tax rates (a measure of local effort to finance education)

 

•          in performance on the state TAAS test:

 

            ►          is seventh in the percentage of all students passing (TLI ≥ 70) the “accountability subset” of the state test (mathematics, reading, writing; 3-8 & 10^th grade levels)

 

            ►          is seventh in the percentage of students passing the mathematics test

 

            ►          is sixth in the percentage of students passing the eighth grade science test and seventh on the tenth grade science test.

Basically, the indices used by CSCISD to inform judgments about the success or challenges of its programs are keyed directly to the Texas high stakes testing program. This is no different than the 1,198 other public school districts and charter schools in Texas. Attendance and graduation rates in CSCISD are relatively high. The dropout rate is improving.

The percentage of CSCISD high school students taking the standard college admission exams (primarily ACT in Texas for in-state institutions) is increasing, and approximately 60 percent of the CSCISD high school graduates enter college each fall. No data were available relative to CSCISD postsecondary student performance or persistence rates. Also, no information was shared with the case study visitation team regarding opinion survey data gathered from recent graduates or how it might be used.

Driver #6: Improvement in the achievement level of all students, including those historically under-served.

On this driver, the predominant ethnic and economic characteristics of the CSCISD student body are those that are used to describe a historically underserved population at the state or national levels: Hispanic (90%) and economically disadvantaged (76%). Table 15 is presented as evidence that the district is making gains in student achievement among these student groups. The disaggregation of test data by student ethnic, economic, and gender characteristics is one of the central features of the Texas school accountability system.

As usual, in any kind of statistical presentation of test data, scores are associated with a significant margin of error. That margin of error increases as the number of cases decreases. The African-American population in CSCISD represents less than 1 percent of the total student body; thus, the noticeable fluctuation in pass rates from year to year. In analyzing a four-year (five test cycle) trend, CSCISD and Region 20 are almost identical (29.65% and 29.48% respectively) on the growth in achievement among their Hispanic students. This reflects the fact that nearly two of three students in Region 20 are of Hispanic origin. The growth in achievement in Carrizo Springs for the five test years is 29.16 percent, for Region 20 is 19.07 percent, and for the state is 12.16 percent. Although heartening and headed in the right direction at CSCISD, some of the margin of error issue is surely at play in this data set. CSCISD enrolled 2,460 students; Region 20 enrolled 329,825; and the state of Texas enrolled 4,059,619.

Table 15

Percentage of Students Passing TAAS in the CCISD, Region 20 and Texas: 1997-2001

Although it wasn’t discussed in depth, we believe CSCISD uses test data to inform instructional remediation and reform efforts for all students in the district, regardless of ethnic background or economic status. We observed one group of students who had failed the mathematics test the previous year working on basic skills as a “pull-out” group in a specially designed resource room. They were mostly Hispanic children, but this is reflective of CSCISD’s entire student body.

Summary and Conclusions

The author’s rating of the performance of the Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District on each National Science Foundation Driver of Education Systemic Reform is based on input from the case study site visitation team members; a review of available data and information graciously provided by the CSCISD Director of Curriculum; a review of data from the Texas Education Agency; and a thorough review and analysis of the qualitative data (interviews and focus group meetings with students, teachers, administrators, city and chamber of commerce officials, citizen advisory committee members, etc.) gained by the team during the two site visits in Carrizo Springs, Asherton, and Big Wells.

The Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (TRSI) program clearly is a valuable resource to CSCISD. It is a needed and effective supplement to the district’s efforts to improve science and mathematics teaching and learning. The teacher partners are a dynamic group. Though they occasionally display differences of professional opinion about how to help students, they appear to be working toward the common goal of helping students achieve. An excellent base of information and materials is available to CSCISD through its TRSI membership. The administrative system is structured to allow classroom teachers to take advantage of TRSI offerings and support.

Table 16

Rating of NSF Educational System Reform Drivers in the Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD)

Driver	Rating •
1. Implementation of standards-based curriculum . . .	3
2. Policies supportive of quality science and math programs . . .	2+
3. Convergence and usage of resources to support science and mathematics programs . . .	3
4. Broad-based support and involvement of parents and others . . .	2+
5. Accumulation of a broad and deep array of evidence that the program is enhancing student achievement . . .	2+
6. Improvement in the achievement of all students, including the historically under served . . .	2+

•          3 = Strong evidence/operationally consistent and widespread

              2 = Moderate evidence/developing but visible success

              1 = Weak evidence/beginning but sporadic

              0 = Not present/no evidence            

Following are other findings and conclusions/general themes that the case study visit team gleaned from the information we obtained during our visits to CSCISD and in reviewing data about the district:

 

1.         The Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District (CSCISD) is situated in a relatively depressed rural area of southwest Texas. Carrizo Springs and Dimmit County are isolated from the economic mainstream of the state. The area is a typically desert climate—windswept, hot, and dry much of the year. The soil and climate are poor and no longer seem conducive to raising cash crops of any sustainable nature. The area has a history of water polluted over time by suspect oil and gas drilling methods. Even now, wells must be dug to a depth of 850 to 1,300 feet in order to obtain potable water. Dimmit County is close to the Mexican border and experiences “drop-offs” of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico. A few migrant children in the area require special arrangements for their education. Economic stress is an ever-present challenge in the area, with nearly half of the residents at or below the government-reported poverty line. The primary employers in the area are the school district, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the county hospital. Government transfer payments also constitute a relatively large income stream into the community. There are no major manufacturing entities in the county. The economy seems to survive on essentially a service industry, government offices, and a few business establishments such as WalMart and Dollar General. The population shift in Dimmit County in the last 20 years has been dramatic: the white population has decreased by 35 percent to constitute only 13 percent of the local population, while persons of Hispanic origin now number nearly 7 out of every 8 residents. The community and area lack adequate housing where new residents could reside, e.g., incoming border patrol agents. A new development in land use is unfolding. Farmers and ranchers are leasing their property to out-of-area and -region hunters for recreational hunting. The major wildlife pursued include trophy deer, dove, quail, and wild swine. Finally, the county is said to be one of the poorest in Texas with an accompanying high tax rate.

 

2.         The Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District enrolls approximately 2,400 students from the communities of Asherton, Big Wells, Brundage, Carrizo Springs, Catarina, and Winter Haven as well as a dwindling number from farms and ranches in the area. CSCISD is the only school district in Dimmit County, an area of approximately 1,331 square miles (30% larger than the state of Rhode Island) with 7.7 inhabitants per square mile. The climate for education in the community is highly positive. All persons the case study visitation team talked with seemed to place a high priority on a sound education for ALL of the students in the community. Many signs of educators’ pride in their school system was evident in the district’s attendance centers (campuses). Parents with whom we visited expressed pride in the schools and concern for the future welfare of the children of the community, especially as that future may relate to their success on the state’s high stakes tests. A sense of order conducive to learning was evident at the campuses we visited. Teachers and administrators spoke highly of their students’ achievements, including relatively high attendance (96%) and college-going (60+%) rates.

 

3.         A positive factor is the dedication and commitment of CSCISD’s district teachers and administrators, many of whom have longstanding ties to the community. Most of the educators we met during the two site visits came from families with long histories in the area or who have married into families with such historical backgrounds. Even though these persons attended college in more affluent places, they returned to apply their skills and talents to the educational needs of this economically depressed area. It is a source of great strength in the district, since the turnover rate among these educators is relatively low and stability is one of the resulting positive characteristics of the system. Citizens express their appreciation to the CSCISD educators for this service to the community.

 

4.         State and federal compensatory financial support of CSCISD has made a huge and positive difference. The district has an operating budget of nearly $20 million, more than 80 percent of which comes from the state of Texas and the federal government. Without this infusion of outside financial intervention, the school district simply could not operate. More than $2 million is awarded to the district annually in state and federal grants for services to special needs students, and additional competitive grant funds have been acquired to underwrite the development and operation of the district’s outstanding telecommunications and computer technology program.

 

5.         CSCISD’s emphasis on and success in developing cutting edge technology was apparent during both case study site visits. Every campus has in-classroom Internet access and a wireless communication system that reaches all buildings in the district including elementary campuses in Big Wells (16 miles east) and Asherton (8 miles south). The district is fortunate to have the services of a technology director, again a native of the area, who seems to be uniquely conversant with the language of the industry and is adept at developing and operating the needed technology infrastructure for the district’s facilities. The district supports nearly 1,500 desktop and laptop computer units, an outstanding ratio in a school system with an enrollment of less than 2,500. Although the case study visitation team observed computers being used for instruction in classrooms and laboratories, the use may be somewhat superficial at this time, with technology not yet totally or firmly integrated into teaching and learning practice in the district.

 

6.         CSCISD educators are very concerned with matters of district annexation and reorganization and the construction of new buildings. Under an official mandate from the Texas Education Agency, the closure of Asherton Independent School District (AISD) and its annexation to CSCISD was mandated in 1999. Although this generated considerable resentment and anxiety on the part of Asherton citizens, the CSCISD board of education, administrators, and teachers have done a remarkable job of assimilating the AISD assets, liabilities and, most importantly, students into the district program. Asherton Elementary is an attractive learning center with a culture of caring and inclusiveness for students and parents. The district is building a new elementary campus with nearly 80 percent assistance from the state under a bond program for districts with low assessed property values. This will allow for increased efficiencies in district communication, deployment of professional staff, use of equipment and materials, and structuring of teaching and learning strategies. The reorganization matters continue to center around issues of block scheduling, currently in effect in the junior high but not the high school, and the effect that has on student progress through the various grade levels and campuses.

 

7.         The Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (TRSI), conceived and funded by the National Science Foundation, has been a very positive factor in science and mathematics curriculum reform and improvement efforts. CSCISD teacher and administrator “partners” have participated in the design, development, and operation of the TRSI program since its inception in 1997-98. The 2002-03 school year marks the fifth full academic term of participation by CSCISD educators in the TRSI training and technical assistance. CSCISD has used TRSI well. The TRSI approach has been simple, direct, and effective. It basically includes in-service training for teachers; a supply of materials to help carry out what is learned through the in-service; and a considerable amount of one-on-one and one-on-small-group, in-district assistance to classroom teacher partners. TRSI has helped CSCISD teacher partners rethink their approach to teaching with students of all ability levels and backgrounds, especially with reference to inquiry-based, hands-on approaches to much of the instruction in science and mathematics.

 

8.         Clearly, the CSCISD curriculum and instruction improvement efforts fundamentally are driven by the Texas high stakes testing (HST) program. TRSI has been successful in its work with member schools. It assists science and mathematics teachers in the rural areas to align local curriculum with the state standards, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and, although somewhat professionally distasteful, provides creative ways for teachers to prepare students for the state HSTs. Although they are not alone in this venture and whereas they would prefer an approach where local learning standards were developed and instruction was then keyed to those learning standards, CSCISD educators, of necessity and in great part, equate learning standards with whatever is on the Texas HSTs. The general attitude is, “If something is going to be tested (by the state), then we must teach it. If it’s not going to be tested, then we can put it on the back burner.” School personnel in Texas are riveted on the issue of what they must do to achieve the status of an “exemplary” or “recognized” campus or district. Essentially, this means the dialogue about curriculum and what to teach centers around moving a certain percentage of student test takers over the state-pronounced threshold for those official accountability designations. When CSCISD educators were asked if they were concerned about those students who may be left behind in this process without having their individual needs addressed, many expressed sadness, concern, and anxiety. Nevertheless, they seem resigned to this system of education and the assessment of its impact. Many of the younger teachers in CSCISD and Texas are products of this approach, since it was in effect when they were elementary and secondary students in the state. The new accountability measures coming with the implementation of the new generation of testing, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), is of great concern to educators in CSCISD. Expressions of concern and fear about grade promotion being subject to success on a single test and score—e.g., third grade reading—were heard repeatedly. State predictions of a 40 percent failure rate on the mathematics exit exam, based on early returns of student field-testing of the TAKS, causes great concern in CSCISD and similar districts. Although CSCISD educators think that the state HST program has produced some good in the area of focusing the dialogue about the curriculum, most say that this is not the approach they would prefer as professional educators and that it is certainly harmful to a segment of the district’s student population.

 

9.         Several positive findings regarding student achievement in Carrizo Springs were confirmed. First, the performance of CSCISD high school students on mathematics and reading as reported in the Just For The Kids Foundation study is quite impressive. The study authors proclaim their measure of proficiency to be a more accurate assessment of the quality of schooling. Whether the lofty JFTK Top Ten High School rating can be sustained in Carrizo Springs over time will be a matter of great interest. Secondly, regardless of the technical deficiencies and curriculum-narrowing propensities of the TAAS, CSCISD students have shown steady and consistent year-to-year gains on this HST. It must be stressed, however, that the gains are gauged against a relatively low standard of proficiency as set by the state. What the performance of this district and all others will be on the new generation of tests will be interesting to watch in the future.

 

10.       The major factors that support success regarding student learning in science and mathematics in Carrizo Springs are dedicated, caring teachers; strong, focused administrative leadership, especially in the curriculum, technology, and student special needs areas; evidence of community pride in the schools; a participative approach to curriculum decision making; aggressive pursuit of outside resources—human, technical assistance, and material/equipment; a realistic appraisal of student abilities and future opportunities; and an overriding conviction that “we have to do it ourselves if we are going to be successful.” Major barriers to long-term innovation and education reform in CSCISD are geographical and economic isolation of the community; lack of incentives for graduates to stay in the area, including lack of employment and little advantage for those with better science and mathematics backgrounds; lack of vision on the part of some families that a quality education is ultimately a ticket to a better way of life; and the ever-present challenge of recruiting and retaining quality, credentialed teachers.

References

 

Amrein, A. L., & Berliner, D. C. (2002). High-stakes testing, uncertainty, and student learning. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(18). Retrieved August 15, 2002, from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n18/

 

Haney, W. (2000). The myth of the Texas miracle in education. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8(41). Retrieved August 16, 2002, from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n41/

 

Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District. (2001). Academic excellence indicators system: District report. Carrizo Springs, TX: Author.

Linn, R. L. (2000). Assessments and accountability. Educational Researcher, 29(2), 4-15.

 

Pollard, J. (2002). Burnt at the high stakes [Review of the book by the same title]. World Prosperity, Ltd. Available: www.standardizedtesting.net/high_stakes.htm

Texas Education Agency. (1998). Snapshot 1997. Austin: Author.

Texas Education Agency. (1999). Snapshot 1998. Austin: Author. 

 

Texas Education Agency. (2000). Snapshot 1999. Austin: Author.

 

Texas Education Agency. (2001). Snapshot 2000. Austin: Author.

 

Texas Education Agency. (2002). Snapshot 2001. Austin: Author.

 

U.S. Census Bureau. (1990). 1990 census of the population, general population characteristics. Washington, DC: Author.

 

U.S. Census Bureau. (1990). 1990 census of the population. Social and economic characteristics. Washington, DC: Author.

 

U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). 2000 state and county quick facts. Washington, DC: Author. Available: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/