STAAR Makeup Day

Summer of Academic Refinement (SOAR) Program

Port Arthur Independent School District’s 2017 Summer of Academic Refinement “SOAR” program will be held Monday through Thursday beginning June 5, 2017 and ending June 29, 2017 for PAISD students. The “SOAR” program will include the Title I, required, and the bilingual programs. The elementary programs will offer language arts, science, social studies, and mathematics for students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Jumpstart is an intensive summer program, designed to strengthen the reading, writing, and mathematics skills of K-2 students. Jumpstart begins June 5, 2017 and ends June 29, 2017. Parents in the Title I program should have received letters advising them that their children should attend summer school.

This year the district will pilot a one-week STEM Robotics Enrichment camp for elementary students and a two-week camp for secondary students. Students participating in the GEAR-UP Camp, will Get Enrichment for Academic Readiness. The program is designed for students not required or recommended to attend any other summer program. Robotics promote digital citizenship and attract learners to STEM fields by engaging them in fun, tangible, real-world programming. Student must apply to participate in the camp. Applications available at home campus.

The free elementary summer programs will be housed at Adams, DeQueen, and Lee with students attending classes from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Jumpstart kindergarten through 2nd grade students will attend Washington. Breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m.

Registration for any secondary students, middle and high school, who have not pre-registered with their school counselor will be from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the students’ home campus, Tuesday, May 30, 2017 - Thursday, June 1, 2017. The secondary program is free to students who are in danger of being retained. Classes for middle and high school students will be from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The high school program is free to all students who are taking courses to make up credits.

The district has designed the Academic Enrichment Summer Institute Program for ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students who have not been successful on the Algebra I, Biology, English I, English II, or U.S. History STAAR/EOC tests. The Academic Enrichment Summer Institute will be held at Memorial High School starting June 5th and ending June 23rd. The Institute will be held Monday through Thursday each week. The assessment window for ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students needing to retake a STAAR/EOC test is June 19th – June 23, 2017.

Elementary 5th grade students needing to retake the STAAR test for Math will take the test on June 20, 2017 and retake the STAAR test for Reading on June 21, 2017. Middle school 8th grade students needing to retake the STAAR Math test will take the test on June 20, 2017 and retake the STAAR test for Reading on June 21, 2017. Students will take the test on the campus that they are assigned to for summer school.

Transportation will be provided for designated students in all programs at all grade levels.

Joint Statement Regarding Proposed Accountability System

Today the Texas Education Agency released unofficial ratings for the proposed new accountability system slated to begin in summer 2018. The new system, which is mandated by House Bill 2804 passed in 2015, requires that TEA issue districts and campuses letter grade ratings ranging from A to F for overall performance, as well as performance in each of five domains. The “what if” ratings are preliminary, for planning purposes only, and partial in nature, meaning there are still many variables and other possible data points to consider before this system is applied to schools and districts.

The A-F ratings released by TEA today are part of a report required by the legislature that TEA develop a proposed system and determine the letter grade ratings that districts and campuses would have earned for 4 of the 5 domains (but not an overall rating) for the 2015-16 school year if the system had been in place at that time. The A-F grades reported by TEA are preliminary in nature and have no bearing on the final accountability ratings for the 2015-16 school year, in which Beaumont ISD, Hamshire-Fannett ISD, Nederland ISD, Port Arthur ISD and Port Neches-Groves ISD all Met Standard.

In each of the 4 domains for which TEA has reported letter grade ratings, there is a common distribution of grades, with about two-thirds of campuses and districts receiving letters grades of C, D or F. It is important to note that the ratings contained in today’s report are based on the development of the A–F system as of December 2016. The targets used to determine the A–F grades are based on points established by TEA solely for the purpose of demonstrating one possible, but not necessarily final, approach. Development of the new A-F system will continue—with additional input from stakeholders—until spring 2018, when the final system is expected to be adopted.

As a collective effort, BISD, HFISD, NISD, PAISD and PN-GISD are committed to the ABCs of education—achievement for all students, belief that all students can and will make progress, and conceiving that all students can achieve – no matter what their circumstance might be. We believe in being accountable to our students, their parents, and our community, but we do not agree that the new system accurately communicates the achievements, programs and effective teaching on campuses. As a result, our districts along with many others has or is in the process of submitting resolutions to the state in an attempt to ask legislators to repeal the A-F accountability system.

To learn more about the A-F accountability system and implementation, please visit the Texas Education Agency A-F Resources Page on the TEA website at http://tea.texas.gov/Student_Testing_and_Accountability/Accountability/A-F_Accountability_Resources/ or send an email to rules@tea.texas.gov to submit public comment.

We will remain steadfast in our commitment to student achievement and providing quality educational programs for all students.