PARENT ADVOCATES FOR ARGYLE SCHOOLS

An article in the Dallas Morning News by Holly K. Hacker discusses North Texas high school graduates and their college readiness.  The article highlights our core belief here at Parent Advocates for Argyle Schools that standards MUST be raised within individual school districts in order to ensure that our students will be successful upon entering college.  The bullet points of the article are as follows:

• Passing the TAKS test DOES NOT ensure success in college
• >1/2  of North Texas high school graduates who attend college in Texas earn < a C average.  This is based on a Dallas Morning News data analysis
• College dropout rates increase for those students who struggle during their first year in post high school education
• There is a “major disconnect between expectation set in high school and those in college” says Raymund Paredes, the Higher Education Commissioner for the state of Texas
• Even students at high performing high schools fared poorly in the analysis [5 out of 12 graduates from Dallas' School for the Talented and Gifted earned less than a C average according to the study]
• Some public schools with high standards, such as Lake Highlands High in Richardson ISD Creekview High in Carrolton ISD, had an average freshman earning an  A or B average
• Students at the top of their high school classes find they need remedial college classes [example: Rodrigo Echeverria graduated in the top 10 % of his class from Skyline High in Dallas.  At A&M, he did not succeed in writing and found that "the five paragraph essays he was used to writing in high school" would not make the grade in college
• Focusing on standardized testing in high school and the frequent option schools take of allowing students to opt out of finals based on good grades, attendance, or commended TAKS scores is doing a disservice to students' preparation for college level work, particularly critical thinking, midterm and final exams, and inquiry based education
• Beginning in 2011, Texas will use End of Course exams instead of TAKS tests and students will need 4 years of math and science to graduate
• Districts must go above and beyond STATE MINIMUM STANDARDS

The Just 4 Kids data on this web site supports the Dallas Morning News article and the belief that our students are not college ready.  The answer?  More rigorous standards and more accountability within individual school districts.

Argyle ISD Statistics for 2007 graduates:

Out of 42 students attending a 4 year Texas university:

• 22 students earned 3.0 or above [either an A or B average]
• 19 students earned below 3.0 [a C average or below]

Out of 31 students attending a 2 year Texas college:

• 15 students earned 3.0 or above [either an A or B average]
• 15 students earned below a 3.o [a C average or below]

Note: there is 1 student whose information is not known in this data analysis

Our question: Is this acceptable?  Are we doing the best we can to educate our children and prepare them for the future?  Would we tolerate this type of success in our sports teams?  What do you think?

The risky state of American Health is at an all-time high.  We have record rates of obesity among children and adults.  Type 2 diabetes, a disease that used to plague only older generations, is on the rise among children.  Information abounds about the horrible consequences hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, corn syrup, and processed food have on our bodies.

While Texas is reducing graduation requirements, including the all important health requirement, Arizona’s State superintendent is trying to increase their state education health standards.  

The AZStarnet reports: ”State school Superintendent Tom Horne is convinced that most teens don’t know why fruit is better for you than french fries, and why vigorous exercise is healthier than video games.

So he wants schools to teach them.

…

Horne said he’s convinced that schoolchildren really don’t know what’s healthy to eat and what is not.

 

His proof?

 

“Every time some chain has a health food that I gravitate to, it ends up getting discontinued because it doesn’t get used enough,” he said. “I end up being the only customer.”

 

Horne presumes teens would eat better if they knew better, and average youngster doesn’t know an apple is healthier than fries.

 

Horne said education will help.

 

“You need to know the reasons,” Horne said. “You need to know what the junk food does to you. You need to know what being sedentary does to you. You need to know why eating green vegetables is good for you.”

 

Horne believes that with knowledge, behavior will change.

 

“Why would people eat so much junk food if they knew how bad it was?” he asked.

 

Because it tastes good?

 

“But if you knew how bad it is, you avoid it like the plague,” he responded.

 

But will kids listen?

 

Horne conceded they may need help sticking to a more healthful diet. That’s why he and Mark Anderson, former state lawmaker from Mesa, pushed through a 2005 ban on the sale of junk food, at least in elementary, middle and junior high schools.

 

Opposition both from vending-machine companies and from school-booster groups that make money from them doomed a high school ban, Horne said, though some districts have imposed their own standards.

 

Some of what Horne hopes to teach students about avoiding foods such as chocolate bars may require a more aggressive approach, perhaps along the lines of the anti-tobacco campaigns showing diseased lungs.

 

“You know, milk fat is the worst,” he said. “It coagulates in your arteries at room temperature.”

 

Nutrition is only part of the focus. The rules Horne is pushing also would have teachers instruct their students on the benefits of physical activity.

 

Youngsters in kindergarten through second grade would be asked to identify several physical activities that are enjoyable.

 

Those in grades six through eight would be encouraged to engage in physical activity for personal, social or health benefits. And older students would be asked to examine the role that motivation, prioritizing, dedication and self-discipline play in fitness development…”

The bottom line is that kids need to understand their bodies, health, and what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle.  Individual school districts have the choice to implement stricter graduation requirements.  The state guidelines are sort of like the Pirate Code; they’re really guidelines.  Districts can and should raise the bar in order to give their students the best possible education.  The new Texas requirements meet the bare minimum needs for those students who are not necessarily college bound.  They do not, however, give kids the foundation for living a healthy lifestyle.  

[New Texas 2009-2010 Graduation Requirements]