How does your El Paso ISD school rank? District introduces new tier system

The El Paso Independent School District began its “self-imposed improvement system” Monday. The system places each campus in tiers from 1-3.

Find out where your campus ranks in the school’s official list here.

“It’s really meant to help support the campus and the administrators there to see where they would like a little more instruction and help, resources,” said EPISD spokeswoman Melissa Martinez.

“As I like to see it the Tier one schools get a little more love,” Martinez said.

Central office did a little math over the summer for each campus to determine which tier it will fall into. A campus’ STAAR test scores make up 70 percent of their decision,campus discipline makes up 10 percent, student attendance makes up 10 percent, and teacher attendance makes up the final 10 percent.

“How do we as a community, as a district, look at student achievement. How do we measure it? And is the test the only measure we’re going to use in defining that?” said EPISD Trustee Susie Byrd.

Socorro and Yselta ISD’s also have a tiered improvement system similar to El Paso, based on these factors.

“They’re going to get that attention they need,” Martinez said. “They’re going to be able to say, this is where we’re falling behind, this is what we think we’re lacking in, so they’re going to be able to get the resources they need from above, directly for where they need it.”

For example if a school’s test scores are low, the district will give them more money for tutors; a school’s administrative staff will get more leadership training, teachers will have more opportunities for professional development.

“And really the big lesson to be learned from what happened under Lorenzo Garcia is when we only use test scores to measure what happens in the classroom, you have a lot of really dramatic results that are not all good for our kids,” Byrd said.

A downside though for the principal in charge of a Tier 3 school, Martinez admits, he or she will have to cede more decision-making authority to central office committees.

“It’s not meant to take action against a person, it’s really meant to help that campus.” Martinez said.

Not every school can be a tier one school. The district uses a sliding scale. If a school’s test scores are high, but there is a school with slightly better scores, the first school will still be in a lower tier.