CISD school board defers EOC scoring

The End of Course (EOC) exams students take will not count for 15 percent of their final grade -- at least for the current school year.

During Monday night's school board meeting, the Carroll ISD board approved deferring the EOC scores being 15 percent of student's final grades for the current school year. As part of the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) program, districts must have EOCs that count as 15 percent of a student's final course grade. Districts across the state were running into issues with having to give students incompletes because the EOC results were not available in time. Julie Thannum, executive director of communications and marketing for the district, said that issue was not anticipated when EOC decisions were first made.

"On Feb. 17, Commissioner of Education Robert Scott issued a statement that districts were allowed to defer for the first year to allow time to see how this will all work," Thannum said. "The board was acknowledging that the state had given the deferment."

The EOC will still count as a grade but not 15 percent of the final grade. Thannum said the scores still count toward graduation as well.

Scott announced that he is modifying the House Bill 3 Transition Plan to give school districts the ability to defer implementation of the statutory provision that requires performance on an end-of-course (EOC) assessment to count as 15 percent of a student's final course grade.

Also during Monday's meeting, the school board discussed, but took no action, on the 2012-13 budget. Thannum said the district is facing a $5 million shortfall, but the board has already taken two steps to address that. The board approved the 2012-13 school calendar, at a previous meeting, that has start date three days later than the 2011-12 school year. The calendar decision saved the district $250,000, Thannum said.

In February, the board approved a plan to save block scheduling for the next school year. The plan -- known as the 4-4-2-2-2-2 plan, calls for the reduction of 16 teaching positions at six campuses over a two-year period. The first year will result in the reduction of two teaching positions at each of the high schools and one each at the middle schools and intermediate schools. Thannum said no teachers are expected to lose their jobs, but rather the reductions will be made through retirements, resignations and reassignments. The district has already cut administrative and paraprofessional positions in previous budgets, with plans to reduce even more in those areas in future budgets.

"The board didn't take any action at this meeting, but there will be more action around May," Thannum said. "We're still studying issues and watching what happens in Austin and watching the lawsuit. We don't want to do too much too soon."

Also during Monday's meeting, David Faltys, CISD superintendent, informed the school board and parents about another education lawsuit against the state. Faltys said there is a fifth education lawsuit that has been filed, but CISD is not part of it. The lawsuit argues that schools aren't efficient and not funded properly. Faltys also said that the lawsuit the district is involved in has an expected fall court date.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...