Snyder ISD to hold TAPR hearing at board meeting

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During tonight’s Snyder Independent School District board meeting, trustees will hear a report on the district’s performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores for the 2018-2019 school year in the form of the the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR). 
The district’s Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Rachael McClain, will present the report.
“The TAPR report gives a summary of really the overall academic performance of the district and all the campuses, and compares it to the region and the state,” McClain said. “It’s a complete snapshot of our academic performance.”
McClain said the district has already seen the outcome of the STAAR tests this TAPR report highlights, but the report provides additional demographic data to help district leaders make sense of the scores.
“This is for the ’18-’19 school year. The TAPR reports, they just kind of lag behind when the accountability is released for the schools. That happened in August,” McClain said. “When we do the accountability and the letter grades, and the junior high (school) continued to be ‘improvement required,’ all of that came out in August.”
The report provides valuable information that the district uses to help tailor its instruction over the coming school year.
“We look at areas where we are increasing or decreasing. We always look at our comparison with the region or the state,” McClain said. “The additional piece that’s good to see is, it shows the demographic makeup of our district. A lot of times we have questions that are related to performance of different subgroups, and you can see all of that in the TAPR report. That’s how the TAPR reports are built, so you can see the reports built off of the sub-populations also.”
The information provided in the TAPR will be posted on the school district’s website at www.snyderisd.net.
“By the end of the month, all school districts release that to their website,” McClain said. “It’s a good apples-to-apples comparison between school districts.”
The report, published along with the meeting’s agenda, shows that while 78 percent of students scored “Approaches Grade Level or Above” on the STAAR statewide and 77 percent of Region 14 students ranked the same, 64 percent of Snyder ISD students attained that level of proficiency in 2019.
Statewide, 50 percent of students attained “Meets Grade Level or Above” in 2019, compared to 47 percent in Region 14 and 34 percent in Snyder ISD.  
“Masters Grade Level” was achieved by 24 percent of students in Texas in 2019, while 21 percent of Region 14 students and 15 percent of Snyder ISD reached the same rank.
In other business, school board members will hear a financial audit for fiscal year 2018-2019, prepared by James E. Rodgers and Co. CPA firm of Hamlin.
The school board will vote whether to participate in the Texas Education Administration’s Lone Star Governance Cohort Two. 
Trustees will receive updates on Lone Star Governance, board policy update — charter operations and Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR), and receive reports from McClain on the Lone Star Governance Report and a board policy update on charter operations. 
Additionally, the board will review potential campus realignment plans for 2020-2021 and the district’s E-Rate application for discounted internet access. 
The board will also hear a report from Superintendent Dr. Eddie Bland, which will include plans for upcoming regular board meetings Feb. 13 and March 19, both at 6 p.m.
The meeting is open to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. in the Administration Building board room.
A time will be provided for the public to comment on non-agenda items.