Cedar Hill ISD heads into the summer on a high note. New data shows massive improvement in test scores district-wide. As the school district in southern Dallas prepares to welcome a new superintendent, students share what’s working and the hope they can keep growing.
There are a lot of different things happening in Whitney Jurand's 4th-grade classroom and that's the way young Aaron Carswell likes it
"I like constant action, l can take a break here and there but I like constant action," he shared.
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WATCH HEREJurand has taken the time and expended a lot of energy learning how each one of her students likes to learn.
"I always love to raise my hand, every time, most of the time, Mrs. Jurand has to tell me to put my hand down because I raise it so many times a day," said Jayana Jackson, a student in the class.
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SIGN UP So, this classroom at Plummer Elementary changes its focus a lot, meeting kids where they want to be and teaching there. Serenity Williams likes board games, so her reading is mixed into a Jenga set.
"When you pull a block, whatever color that is, you have to open up that page of the book, find that color, you have to read it and make an inference off of it," said Williams.
They pulled out all these stops with good reason.
Carter In The Classroom
Focusing on unique things school districts are doing to help children succeed.
"I had 'did not meet' or 'did not approach last year' on my reading test," said Jackson.
"On their third-grade STAAR, they had about 40% passing," said Jurand.
Everyone blames everything from changes to the STAAR to not getting enough time with the stronger teachers.
"We weren't with her a ton, we'd move around, and we only got 45 minutes," said Carswell.
The district made changes.
Outgoing superintendent Gerald Hudson said the district spent a lot of time analyzing new STAAR tests and empowering teachers to make changes that work in their classrooms. New data from Dallas County's Commit partnership shows Cedar Hill's gains this year are in the top 15 success stories in the state.
"Our last interim test, we were at 70, I was to say 74, 76% passing," said Jurand
"I got approaches on my last STAAR test and this year, I'm going for master's, I'm going for that big golden 100," said Carswell.
Kids who clearly care and want to do the work and a school district trying to push hurdles out of their way, building a new method, that so far seems to be working and trying everything to keep them there.
