Ector County ISD got mixed results on STAAR results in grades 3 through eight this year for a variety of reasons.
During his media call Wednesday, Superintendent Scott Muri said ECISD continues to see the affect of the pandemic on students.
“But we also are excited about some continued academic achievement and gap narrowing. We look at our results compared to what’s happening across the state of Texas and are excited that we continue to make gains as we close the gap that has existed for many years between the performance of our students in Ector County and performance of students across the state of Texas, specifically in the area of third grade reading and mathematics continuing to narrow the gap. In seventh grade reading and mathematics continuing to narrow the gap. In eighth grade mathematics, narrowing the gap,” Muri said.
“And of course at the high school level, biology and U.S. history continue to narrow the gap; so excited about the progress we’re making as we continue to close that gap between the performance of our students and the performance of students across the state of Texas.”
They also look at how students are making improvements from one grade to the next. Muri said they call that cohort growth — third graders moving to fourth grade and fourth graders moving to fifth.
“The area of reading language arts saw some significant cohort growth, especially at the elementary level in fourth grade. Our third graders (moving) from third grade to fourth grade and fourth grade to fifth grade saw some pretty good growth of our students in the area of reading.
“At the middle school level, as our kids went from seventh grade to eighth grade, (we’re) pleased with the level of cohort growth in that area.”
In other areas, Muri said they saw declines much like the state in math. Statewide math declined across the board in every grade level — third through eighth grade — and ECISD reflected a similar decline in mathematics.
“Science across the state of Texas also saw some declines in both fifth grade and eighth grade. We saw similar declines with our students in ECISD,” he added.
He said the district will continue to analyze data to understand what’s happening and continue to address the learning deficits in students created as a part of COVID learning.
Muri said they will continue to make improvements.
“That’s one of the pieces of work we do in the summer is analyze our data, figure out what we can continue to do to improve and get better,” he said.
He encouraged parents to check out their child’s scores, the questions that were asked and how their children answered at texasassessment.gov
Parents will need to know the identification number of their child and they can have access to that information, Muri said.
It also provides tips for parents to help them address needs their children might have.
TEA also recognized ECISD this week for “the bold and brave work that we’ve done over the last four years in improving outcomes for students.
“Specifically highlighted were several of the adjustments that we’ve made. Our partnership with the YMCA was elevated, a chance to bring in and greatly expand access to prekindergarten education for 3- and 4-year-olds in ECISD,” Muri said.
Blended learning was noticed. Muri said that is a “brand new and innovative way of providing high-quality instruction to our students at the elementary, middle and high school level.”
Also the human capital work ECISD has done to recruit, attract and retain the “very best educators possible within our own organization.”
“We are grateful to be recognized by the Texas Education Agency and commend the work of the 4,200 employees, as well as the seven members of our board of trustees for the significant brave and bold work that has happened organizationally over the last four years to improve outcomes for kids in ECISD,” Muri said.
During the most recent board of trustees meeting, Muri said trustees approved a resolution to transition the former Travis Elementary School into a childcare facility. ECISD is in the process of looking for an entity that can join with the district to transition that facility “to provide high quality child care for the residents of Ector County.”
Tuesday night, the board also approved the budget for the 2024-25 school year. It included a $24 million budget deficit.
“As many folks in our community and across the state are well aware, (the) state of Texas has not increased funding since the year 2019,” Muri said. “That impacts not only ECISD but many districts across the state” and puts them in untenable situations.
This year for ECISD that meant a $24 million budget deficit, but they have made significant cuts to bring that down to $12 million.
“We will begin leveraging that budget in the ’24-25 school year and we will also continue to work with our state legislature and governor to provide additional funding for public schools not only in Ector County but across the state of Texas so we can more effectively meet the needs of the students that we serve,” Muri said.
ECISD will launch a new website June 26 that will be easier to navigate, he noted.
Asked about an idea of an Odessa city council member to mandate that everyone use the restroom of their birth sex in all buildings throughout the city, Muri said he’d have to consult with the district’s legal team about “what, if anything, we would have to abide by from the city council.”
Tatiana Dennis, an attorney for ECISD, said in an email that it is hard to answer a question on something that has not come to existence yet: “an ordinance that I could take a look at and analyze whether or not the District would have to comply. There are certain types of municipal ordinances that apply to school districts, for example, ordinances concerning zoning or safety. But I don’t know if a restroom use ordinance would apply or not because I haven’t seen the proposed ordinance language.”
Advisory on Application of Title IX in Texas Schools from the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton
Title IX Guidance Injunction Order
