Accountability ratings won’t stop the progress at MISD

Area school districts return to the classroom this week, ready to conquer whatever chaos the new year brings. 

For Marlin Independent School District, 2020 brought with it winds of change. With a possible state shutdown on the horizon and a lack of adequate leadership, the novel coronavirus had yet to make it to the forefront of officials’ minds this time last January.

The upcoming semester includes missing out on the opportunity to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Texas Education Agency. Marlin ISD has been operating on an abatement agreement with the state department for nearly a decade and before the pandemic put the world on pause, MISD was in jeopardy of losing their accreditation status for good. 

When STAAR testing scores were announced as void for the 2019-2020 school year ratings, it seemed as though Marlin found a glint of hope through the storm - they had another year to raise their rating to a passing average.

First year superintendent Dr. Darryl Henson, hired in May 2020, brought with him a team of wonderful educators and they have worked alongside their students non-stop to bring test scores up. Then TEA announced that they would be pausing the A-F accountability rating system for the 2020-2021 year. 

“I am a little disheartened that Marlin ISD won't get the opportunity to receive a rating for the academic progress I am confident our students and teachers would have made,” Henson told The Marlin Democrat. 

The official is adamant that the news of this change will not hinder the progress being made in the classroom, but will drive the motivation to be better. The district plans to use the scores to not only track the progress made, but to plan for the future as well.

“Our motto this year of #CommittedToExcellence far exceeds preparing students for the STAAR/EOC assessments,” Henson elaborated. “As an educator, we have a moral obligation to ensure that our students are learning what they need to learn (the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) regardless if the test counts and in Marlin ISD, we take that obligation seriously.”

“Marlin ISD has ambitious yet attainable goals that we will meet,” the educator continued.

Those goals include having all students reading on grade-level by the third grade, successfully pass the seventh grade English Language Arts STAAR assessment, master the Algebra I end-of-course assessment, and/or be deemed as college, career, or military ready upon graduation. 

“It's a double-edged sword because our district has faced attendance and instructional delivery challenges like most districts across our region, state, and country,” said Henson. “However, we know that despite these challenges, our students would have made significant academic gains on every STAAR/EOC assessment.”

The ‘Chance for Success’ initiative, which allowed students to up their six-week letter grades with additional studies, has shown educators the determination their students have hidden inside. According to Henson, it was the ‘single most impactful initiative during the 2020-2021 school year’

“The student participation at Marlin Middle and High schools blew my mind,” he recalled. “My favorite experience from Chance for Success was on the last day seeing the students smile and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they are going to earn a higher grade for their hard work.”

“Our students want to be successful. They want to make good grades. Our kids just needed an extra opportunity to show that they can do it!”