by Kalene O'Brien
NewsWest 9
ODESSA - The STAAR test results are in and local school districts are already taking a close look at them. Some districts are very pleased with the test scores while others were left with some decreasing numbers.
"We went a year missing between 80 and 100 teachers which makes day to day operations really difficult and our folks worked really hard to keep everything going through the year," said Mike Adkins with ECISD.
"There's a lot of partnership that has to be developed between the parents and the teachers," said Juli Ratheal-Burnett, the Superintendent of the UTPB STEM Academy.
ECISD saw improvement last year but then this year they say they weren't too happy with the results.
"For us, it's really about looking at how did this years kids do versus how they did last year and if they're improving then ultimately we're going to see it as a school district," said Adkins.
Meanwhile, the brand new UTPB STEM academy was very pleased with their first year of test scores.
"I think it's the way we teach our students. That's what made the difference. The kids literally do not want to go home each day," said Juli Ratheal-Burnett, the Superintendent of the UTPB STEM Academy.
The STEM Academy provides what is called "Project Based Learning" and they that's why they are seeing such great test scores with only one year on the books.
"In this style of learning, all of the topics are inner-woven in everything we do every single day and I think that makes a lot of difference," said Ratheal-Burnett.
So what is plan moving forward into the next school year?
"What we do now is, we have, and we will continue to get more data than you can imagine from the state of Texas; broken all the way down to every single child," said Adkins.
ECISD says they do see improvement in the future but that it's going to take some time.
