Life is not fair, and Marion Independent School District learned that lesson this past week courtesy of the Texas Education Agency.
When TEA released its annual state accountability ratings Friday, Marion ISD received a rating of academically unacceptable based mainly on the dropout rate of Hispanic students. The district’s overall school completion rate was 87.8 percent, well above the acceptable rate of 70 percent. However, the subpopulation group of Hispanic students had a completion rate of 68.8 percent. In all other areas considered in the rating, Marion was exemplary in 18 and acceptable in two.
Superintendent James Hartman is rightfully appealing the unacceptable rating. Marion ISD serves students in the Wings for Life facility for incarcerated juvenile girls who are either pregnant or already mothers. Once these students complete their time at Wings for Life, they return to homes across the state where they can resume their education or not. Marion ISD has no control over what happens to these students once they return home. However, those who do not return to school are counted as dropouts — against Marion ISD’s completion rate. Forty-three percent of the Hispanic students in Marion ISD are adjudicated youth in this program. Hartman said he did not blame Wings for Life, but the TEA accountability system leaves no room for situations such as this.
Little argument can be made that schools and students should be held to higher standards, but basing a school accountability rating on this one number does not give a true picture of a district’s academic program. Marion ISD appears to be doing a lot of good, but the state gave it the lowest rating because of a situation beyond the district’s control.
TEA’s response: Marion has until Aug. 14 to appeal the rating.
Hopefully, the school district’s appeal will be heard with clearer minds than the ones that put together a system that unfairly issues labels without consideration of the big picture.
