TEXARKANA, Ark. - School grades released last week by the Arkansas Department of Education shows several schools in the Texarkana, Arkansas, School District are in need of improvement.
Union Elementary School received an F rating, with both College Hill Sixth Grade Academy and North Heights Junior High School receiving D grades.
TASD Superintendent Dr. Becky Kelser said the district is taking specialized steps to address the issues affecting the scores, including additional reading interventions at NHJH and working to make parents aware that attendance factors into the scores, as well.
"We have had several community members ask how they can help us increase the school scores," Kesler said. "We need to encourage parents to get students to school here on time every day and leave them throughout the day. They need to know it counts toward the school quality score."
Matt Coleman, TASD's director of school improvement, explained how the school grades are determined during Tuesday's regular board of trustees meeting.
He explained that the grades are derived from the ACT Aspire test and at the elementary level, scores are based on weighted achievement score and value added growth score, along with school quality and student success score. These are factors at the high school level, as well, but weighted differently and the score also includes the four and five-year graduation rates.
"While I am pleased that we are making progress and have shown growth in six out of eight schools, the letter grades are disappointing," Kesler said, adding that the ACT Aspire provides a snapshot of a moment in time when students took the test.
"As the superintendent of TASD, I have high expectations for each of our schools, and letter grades such as these are unacceptable; however, they do not define who we are as a district," she said. "The Texarkana, Ark. School District has a staff that is committed to educating every student. I, along with the board of directors and staff, am committed to working to achieve our mission and vision, which is to ensure that every child reaches his or her full potential."
Ashdown Superintendent Casey Nichols said their grades were higher than last year due to hard work by both the students and staff.
"First and foremost, we received a really good amount of significant improvement this past year over previous assessment scores and ratings," he said. "We made really significant improvements this year, but we want to see even more improvement as we move forward. We are excited about that. I look for us to have significantly different letter grades as we go into the future simply of the growth that we are experiencing already Our students and staff really stepped it up."
The grades can be seen at myschoolinfo.org. Calls to Fouke and Genoa School Districts were not returned by presstime.
Grades for Area Schools
The letter grades for area schools are as follows:
Texarkana, Arkansas, School District
College Hill Elementary C
Fairview Elementary C
Kilpatrick Elementary C
Trice Elementary B
Union Elementary F
College Hill Sixth Grade Academy D
North Heights Junior High D
Arkansas High School C
Ashdown School District
Ashdown Elementary C
L.F. Henderson Intermediate C
Ashdown Junior High C
Ashdown High School B
Genoa School District
Genoa Central Elementary School A
Gary E. Cobb Middle School A
Genoa Central High School B
De Queen School District
De Queen Middle School A
De Queen Junior High A
De Queen High School C
Foreman School District
Foreman High School C
Fouke School District
Fouke Elementary C
Fouke High School B
Hope Public Schools
Hope Academy of Public Service B
Hope High School D
Prescott School District
Prescott Elementary School D
Prescott Junior High D
Prescott High School C