The Texas Education Agency notified the Keller Independent School District on October 28 that it had earned a Recognized rating for the 2008-09 school year.
In a letter, Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott informed KISD Superintendent Dr. James Veitenheimer that the district’s request for an appeal from an Academically Acceptable rating to a Recognized rating had been granted. Keller ISD submitted the appeal to the TEA in July when it became evident that the district would receive an Academically Acceptable rating. TEA data wrongly indicated that KISD met or exceeded the criteria for a Recognized rating in all but a single demographic of a single measurement.
Keller ISD’s Completion Rate I in the Economically Disadvantaged student group was originally reported as 84.5%, a half of a percent off from the Recognized standard. However, the district discovered documentation for students who were reported as drop-outs who did not drop out of school in Keller ISD. Commissioner Scott, based on the recommendation from an external, independent, three-member review panel, agreed to change the status of at least one of these students. The removal of that student increased Keller ISD’s Completion Rate I sufficiently for the district to attain a Recognized rating for the second year in a row.
“We know we are an exceptional school district and that we performed well enough through the 2008-09 school year to receive a Recognized rating,” Superintendent Veitenheimer said. “We are just excited that we are now able to report to our community and staff that we are indeed a Recognized district.”
This marks the sixth year in the past nine that Keller ISD has been rated Recognized, and the second since 2003-04 when TEA moved to a new, more rigorous standardized testing system. Keller ISD learned this summer that, of the 34 eligible campuses for 2008-09, 17 earned Exemplary campus ratings and another 15 were rated Recognized, the most in the district’s history.