Last week, I attended the Belton High School Chamber Orchestra Holiday Concert, and I was moved by the performance.
Our orchestra students are incredibly talented, and their success is all the more striking given the program's history. The orchestra program started in 2007 with just seven students at BHS. Since then it has grown to 78 students at BHS, and we've added programs at all three of our middle schools.
Like the rest of our fine arts program, orchestra gives students an opportunity to develop their talents, explore our culture and express themselves. Their performance was amazing, and it cannot be measured by filling in bubbles on a standardized test.
As educators, we work to develop students, not test scores. But all too often, when politicians talk about accountability, they're really just talking about standardized tests.
In 2015, the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring the commissioner of education to assign a letter grade of A-F to each district and campus starting with the 2017-2018 school year. We'll get a preview of those ratings next month.
The Texas Education Agency has announced the criteria that will be used to determine those letter grades. While we don't know exactly how those criteria will be calculated, we do know that three of the five criteria will rely exclusively on STAAR test scores.
The truth is that this A-F rating system is just more of the same. It is overly dependent on standardized testing and completely fails to capture what is actually happening in our schools. These ratings are a wholly incomplete measure of our students' success. For the most part, they will only capture how our students performed on one test, on one day.
Belton ISD has a more holistic definition of student success. Our definition includes STAAR test scores, dual credit and Advanced Placement courses, and career and technical education programs but also what students achieve in academic competitions, our athletics program, our fine arts program, in service to our community, and their daily work.
When the A-F ratings are released, I hope that you'll join me in looking at them in this context: They are just one data point, and looking only at the A-F ratings gives you an incomplete picture of any campus or school district.
If you only look at those A-F ratings, you won't hear the beautiful music that our orchestra students can create.
You won't see how the BHS robotics team combined engineering, programming and marketing skills to qualify for the first BEST Robotics UIL State Championship.
You won't hear how competing in a sport gave a student athlete self-confidence and self-discipline.
You won't know how our students give back to our community. Yesterday Belton New Tech High School @ Waskow marked the first anniversary of being designated a Purple Heart School and the 73rd anniversary of Capt. Waskow's death with a day of servant leadership. Students at the campus helped organize 21 different community service projects.
And you won't learn how the innovative ideas that we're working on will create new opportunities for our students.
This week, our school board approved a new partnership with Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. Under the agreement, the medical center will operate a satellite clinic at BHS for half a day each week starting in early 2017. Students from military families will be able to schedule appointments through the clinic, and their services will be provided at no cost to Belton ISD.
We've also been working with a committee of teachers, administrators and parents to explore becoming a "District of Innovation." That designation will exempt Belton ISD from certain requirements under the Texas Education Code. I'm especially excited to offer high school juniors and seniors online dual credit courses and other courses that blend online learning with classroom instruction.
We're able to offer incredible opportunities for students, because we live in a community that supports our kids. That's a blessing.
