Recognitions

Principals receive awards

Abilene ISD earned a Gold Performance Acknowledgment in Reading/English Language Arts, Writing, and Social Studies from the Texas Education Agency. Gold Performance Acknowledgments are given if more than 20% of the students reached the prestigious “commended performance” level on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in any one subject area or attendance level.

These awards were formerly called “Academic Recognition” under the TAAS test. Many of the district schools had more than 25% of their students earn commended performance acknowledgments. A commended performance on a TAKS test can be described as the number of students who made a 90 or above. A gold performance award reflects a student’s deep understanding of the subject matter and this mastery is the aim of the district’s educational program.

Other recent recognitions for district schools include the Just for the Kids Higher Performing Schools and Texas Monthly Best Performing Schools. Just for the Kids groups schools by level (elementary, middle and high) and then identifies schools that are higher performing. This rating is based on an analysis of both their performance on state assessments and several demographic factors such as the percent of low income and English Language Learner (ELL) students, the school enrollment, and, where possible, 3 or more years of continuous student enrollment on the same campus.

Texas Monthly’s December 2006 edition recognizes the best 574 primary and secondary schools in the state. Abilene ISD has six of the Texas Monthly “BEST” schools. The magazine measured student performance on standardized tests, Adequate Yearly Progress ratings, and other components to determine school percentage categories.

Recognitions by Campus:

Abilene Ranked 17th in Education

Abilene was rated the 17th best city in America for education by Business Development Outlook magazine. In the September/October issue of the magazine, Abilene was the highest ranked city in Texas. Lubbock was the only other Texas city named in the magazine and it was awarded the 23rd place.

The authors used the following criteria to determine rankings:

• Average spending per student

• Pupil/teacher ratio

• High school graduation rate

• Highly educated population (the percentage of population with 2 year, 4 year or higher degrees)

• Nearness to top rated universities.

The data from Abilene was compared to both the national average and information collected from other metropolitan areas. The highest rated area for education was Washington, D.C., followed by Rochester, MN, Boston, New York, Albany- Schenectady-Troy, NY, Minneapolis - St. Paul, Madison, Providence, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego, Champaign, IL, Gainesville, PL, Oakland, Orange County, CA, Abilene TX.

Abilene was ranked 39th in the overall quality of life. The only other Texas cities in the top 50 were Bryan/College Station ranked at 34 and San Antonio at 42.

       Fund America Now

Abilene ISD has partnered with Fund America Now (FAN) so parents and members of our community can easily raise money for school programs. The best part.. it doesn't cost extra money! Join your school's FAN Club and choose where you want your money to go. When you purchase a FAN Card or shop online through fundamericanow.com, FAN will donate a part of each purchase to your selected organization. Visit fundamericanow.com to sign up.