Thursday, August 19, 2010

EXEMPLARY!


Exemplary!!!

Really? Are we dreaming?

If you work in education in Texas, you know exactly what I am talking about. The TAKS tests are all we hear about all year long and then the final scores come in over the summer. The state tells you how your students did and gives your school a ranking that will follow you around for a year: Academically Unacceptable, Academically Acceptable, Recognized or Exemplary.

2010 was a wonderful year for Brownsboro. We are a Recognized District this year, with 3 of our schools receiving the Recognized rating and 3 receiving Exemplary status....and for the first time...EVER....Brownsboro Junior High is EXEMPLARY. This means that 90% or more of our students passed TAKS!

This is just a huge accomplishment and I am so proud of all of the teachers at BJH, especially the teachers who teach the TAKS-tested subjects. I feel like I am just riding on the coattails of others' success in their classrooms because 7th grade Texas History (which is what I teach) is not a TAKS-tested subject. (But I am sure my students would have passed had there been one!)

Like I have said before, junior high is not an easy level of education to teach. Some days we feel successful if we have made it through the day without any fights or emotional meltdowns. To learn that we ARE being successful in the classroom is a great joy.

Tonight is Meet the Teachers and we will be meeting and welcoming our new students and parents to BJH. I am so excited to see my new 7th graders. They are always so cute when they are nervous in the beginning of the school year! Ready or not, here it comes!

2 comments:

  1. I have been thinking of you this week, as you prepare for a new year. Hope Meet the Teacher went well. Teaching 7th graders one day a week for Sunday School about did me in. I admire you for doing it all week. Your grandmother would also be so very proud. Have a great year!

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  2. Junior High must run in the blood...maybe it skipped a generation? :)

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