Despite losing ground comparing the 2020-21 school year to the prior year as far as academics are concerned, Boerne Independent School District students in most cases are faring better than their Region 20 and state counterparts.
That was the focus of the district’s annual report presented by Chief Instructional Officer Larissa Flores during a public hearing at the board of trustees January meeting.
The report is a state requirement that must include several items, including Texas Academic Performance Reports prepared by the Texas Education Agency, financial standards for the district and each campus, the district’s accreditation status, performance objectives, student performance in postsecondary institutions and information on violent or criminal incidents on BISD campuses.
There was no public comment during the hearing, and the trustees unanimously approved the report as presented.
“The annual report presented to the board is indicative of the focused and intentional work all of our teachers and administrators put into minimizing learning loss for our students,” Flores said, adding that compared to Region 20 and the state averages, BISD’s loses were minimal.
Those figures were shown on three slides Flores presented to school board members, the first of which was STAAR testing results. Using information from the 2020-21 academic year for all subjects combined, 5 percent fewer BISD students have mastered subject material compared to the year before, 6 percent fewer are at the “meets” level, the standard the district sets for its students, and 5 percent fewer students are at the “approaches” level.
Specifically, the “masters” percentage dropped from 38 to 33 percent from 2019-20, “meets” dropped from 68 to 62 percent and “approaches” dipped from 90 to 85 percent.
Flores said the BISD participation rate was 97 percent.
However, Region 20 and state percentage learning losses were greater and in some areas significantly larger. In Region 20, 12 percent fewer students tested at the “approaches” level while the state drop was 11 percent. As far as “meets,” 9 percent fewer Region 20 and state students were there compared to the year before. At the “masters” level, both the region and state figures were 6 percent less.
Turning specifically to reading and math, the information Flores shared showed 4 percent fewer BISD students were at the “approaches” level in 2020- 21 compared to 2019-20 in reading and 6 percent fewer were there in math. The Region 20 percentages dropped 7 and 19, respectively, while the state numbers were 7 and 16 percent less.
At the “meets” level, 4 percent fewer BISD students were at that mark in 2020-21 compared to the year before in reading and 9 percent fewer were meeting the standard in math. The state number in reading was actually better at 3 percent while the Region 20 percentage matched BISD’s at 4. In math, BISD had 9 percent fewer students at the “meets” level compared to 17 percent in Region 20 and 15 percent across the state.
As far as “masters,” BISD’s numbers in reading and math were minus-3 and minus-7 percent, respectively. Again, region and state numbers in reading were equal or better to BISD’s as only 2 percent fewer students in Region 20 were at that level while the state percentage was 3. In math, 7 percent fewer BISD students were at the “masters” level while the figure at Region 20 was 10 percent fewer compared to 8 percent fewer at the state level.
Bilingual learning numbers were significantly worse within Boerne ISD. At the “approaches” level, 11 perfect fewer students were there in reading and 9 percent fewer were at that level in math comparing 2020-21 to 2019- 20. At the “meets” level, 14 percent fewer BISD students were there comparing the two years in reading and 9 percent fewer were there in math. As far as mastering material, 11 percent fewer BISD students were there in reading and 2 percent fewer in math. There were no region
There were no region or state numbers to compare.
As far as graduation rates, BISD’s was at 98.4 percent for the 2019-20 academic year, almost identical to the state’s 98.3 number. However, the four-year longitudinal graduation rate in BISD was 98.7 percent, compared to 90.3 percent across the state. BISD’s dropout rate was 0.3 percent while the state’s was 1.6 percent.
Another slide showed 70 percent of BISD students are college, career and military ready by the time they complete high school compared to 57 percent in Region 20 and 63 percent across the state.
Other information
Other slides showed student and staff demographics based on the 2019-20 academic year, the last year that data is available.
The information revealed 51.2 percent of BISD students are males, and 61 percent are considered “white” compared to 33 percent Hispanic, 2 percent Asian and 1 percent African American. The state percentages are 53 percent Hispanic, 27 percent white, 13 percent African American and 5 percent Asian. An “other” category rounds up the percentages to 100.
As far as staff, using 1,198 as the total number, 27 percent are considered “minority” as far as race. Thirty percent of BISD teachers have a master’s degree and 1 percent have earned a doctorate.
Twenty-two percent have 0-5 years of experience teaching, 23 percent are in the 6- to 10-year range, 35 percent have between 11 and 20 years of experience and 20 percent have 20 or more ears in the field.
Statewide numbers presented by Flores show 52 percent of staff are minorities, 25 percent of teachers have a master’s degree and 0.7 percent have a doctorate.
Thirty-five percent of Texas teachers have 0-5 years of experience, 20 percent are in the six- to 10-year range, 29 percent have between 11 and 20 years and 16 percent have 20 or more years of experience.
The teacher turnover rate in BISD is 14 percent compared to 14.3 percent across the state. The average teacher salary in Boerne schools is $56,594 compared to $57,641 across the state.
Finally, information showed that there were no violent or criminal incidents in BISD schools or facilities during the 2020-21 academic year. Those incidents are considered to involve a firearm, knife, club or prohibited weapon; arson, murder or attempted murder; indecency with a child; kidnapping or aggravated assault; sexual assault; felony controlled substance or alcohol violation; aggravated robbery; manslaughter; or criminally negligent homicide.
“Texas statute requires every school district to include in their annual performance report information related to the number, rate and type of violent and criminal incidents that occur on each campus, to the extent permitted under the family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA),” information from BISD stated. “In addition, districts must report a description of school violence prevention and intervention strategies designed to protect students, as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of their efforts.”
“The annual report presented to the board is indicative of the focused and intentional work all of our teachers and administrators put into minimizing learning loss for our students.” – Larissa Flores BISD Chief Instructional Officer
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