In Sunday’s Houston Chronicle, the front page news came from a ranking of schools done by Children at Risk, a nonprofit organization that drives change for children. In these rankings, four of five Pasadena ISD high schools ranked in the third or fourth tier. (Pasadena Memorial High School was not ranked because it was a new school.)  

“I was shocked when I saw the ratings and realized that there must be some error in the data,” explained Kirk Lewis, Pasadena ISD Superintendent. “Upon investigation, there are two areas of concern—one of which we have been aware and have targeted since 2003 and the other a data input problem with our new software. The percentage of graduates who met the state’s Recommended High School Program requirements was weighted at 10 percent of the ranking. The state reporting deadline came at a time when we were switching to our new software system, Chancery. We checked all the data transferred into Chancery that is used in our accountability ratings, but we did not have enough time to check to make certain that the data in all areas transferred into Chancery correctly. We found that the numbers that we had provided to the Texas Education Agency were incorrect. Instead of the 60-70 percent in every high school that should have been reported, our data showed approximately 3-percent at each of the campuses. We are glad that this report made us aware of our mistake in our reported data so that we can make certain it is reported correctly this year; however, it may have still led to a mistaken perception of Pasadena ISD schools for many readers. We are contacting the Children at Risk organization, not for a retraction, but to ask them if they would be willing to redo our scores so that we can have the information for our community.” 

The other area that affected Pasadena ISD’s ranking is the percentage of attempted Advanced Placement exams—an area that has been targeted by the district since 2003. At that time only 448 AP tests were taken. The number has risen each year due to district efforts so that approximately 1500 tests will be given this year. The district has worked with a consultant, AP Strategies, to implement this improvement and has also used funds provided in the Dell Grant to underwrite the cost of the AP tests to make it affordable for every qualifying student. 

“We are proud of our district and the strides it is making,” said Lewis. “We know we have areas that need improvement, but we want these rankings to reflect the true Pasadena ISD.”