BISD is the best little schoolhouse in Texas

This entry originally appeared in The Beaumont Enterprise.

Taking a proactive role in doing their public relations job for them, we spent a few minutes this morning digging around Beaumont ISD’s website to see if could we find anything interesting. And we did.

Here’s the headline: “More than half BISD schools rated among state & nation’s Higher Performing Schools” – Wow! More than half?! State and nation?! This is great news! So why wasn’t this press release plastered on all those billboards dotting the SETX landscape with the beaming mug of Big Brother Fearless Leader The Great General Dr. Carrol Thomas smiling down upon us? Well…

Words and numbers don’t always mean what BISD thinks they mean.

The article starts off with the truth by stating that “More than half of Beaumont Independent School District’s ratable schools are listed in the top 10 percent of the higher performance schools in Texas. ”

Sixteen out of BISD’s twenty-eight “ratable” schools made the cut – and that’s a great thing! These schools should be proud, even if most of them squeaked onto the list by only one subject. But just when things are looking great for BISD, along comes Ol’ Butch to spoil things by trying to pull off a little mix ‘n match verbal voodoo:

“The NCEA recognition is indicative of the consistency of excellence in academic performance for BISD.  No other district of similar size and student make up comes close to such an achievement.  Add our record three years in a row for Blue Ribbon schools and the recent recognition for state honor roll schools, one begins to see that BISD is truly not just among the top 10% in Texas but among the best school systems in the nation.  We owe it all to the hard work of our students, teachers, support team, Board, parents and other supporters.”

Yep, Dr. Thomas says that BISD is not just among the top 10% in Texas, but among the best school systems in the nation.

Too bad he’s wrong.

The problem here is twofold:

First, the report the district is citing seems to only list schools in Texas, not the nation. (See for yourself. Click here and try to select a state that’s not spelled T-e-x-a-s.) Any claims of this having anything to do with how BISD ranks nationally are just silly. And misleading.

Second, the NCEA Higher Performing Schools List ranks schools, not school districts. And, as far as school districts go, BISD is far, far, very far, farther still, look-way-back-behind-you-because-we’re-still-going-farther, far, far away from being in the top 10% of Texas school districts. In fact, according to one education ranking site, BISD is ranked at #427 out of 897 other districts. (Some districts aren’t included. Click here for more info.)

Using actual math with real numbers we didn’t make up, that puts BISD firmly in the 47th percentile (48th if we round up). That’s a lot closer to the bottom half than the top tenth, but that’s reality for you.

Always a bummer.

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