All four school districts in Bee County earned gold stars this week by the Texas Education Agency for student test scores.

The Gold Performance Awards are measures of performance acknowledge the highest standards of educational outcomes for each school district and campus based on TAKS test scores and college entry exams.

Beeville ISD campuses earning Gold Performance Awards from the TEA include:

Moreno Middle School received commended recognition in reading and Thomas Jefferson Elementary received commended recognition in mathematics and science.

To receive these high ratings, the campus had 30 percent or more of the students scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard, which is approximately 90 percent of the questions correct, for the particular subject.

The entire student population as a whole and subpopulations of minority students or economically disadvantaged students also were required to meet the criteria for the campus to receive the commended recognition rating.

Moreno had 36 percent of all students, 34 percent of Hispanic, 45 percent of white, 50 percent of African American and 31 percent of economically disadvantaged students scoring at the commended level in reading.

Thomas Jefferson had 40 percent of all students, 33 percent of African American, 37 percent of Hispanic, 60 percent of white and 36 percent of economically disadvantaged students scoring at the commended level in math, and 43 percent of all students, 100 percent of African American, 37 percent of Hispanic, 69 percent of white and 37 percent of economically disadvantaged students scoring at commended on science.

“In order to receive the Gold Performance ratings from TEA, students and teachers have to go above and beyond standard expectations,” explained Nancy Jones, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Beeville ISD. “We are proud of our students, teachers, and schools for receiving these recognitions.”

Pettus ISD had three campuses earn top honors from the TEA:

Pettus Secondary School earned a commended rating in the category of college ready graduates with 35 percent or more of 2008 graduating seniors scoring at or above the criterion score on both the TAKS exit-level, SAT, or ACT English Language Arts and mathematics tests.

In the category of Texas Success Initiative-Math, the campus earned commended performance on its higher education readiness component with 60 percent or more of grade 11 examinees with a scale score of 2200 or more.

In the category of commended performance-writing, the campus was recognized for having 30% percent or more of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard. The rating is based on a scale score of 2400 with a three or higher on the writing essay.

Pettus Elementary School was recognized in the category of comparative improvement-reading/English-Language Arts for having students place in the top 25 percent of the Average Texas Growth Index in TAKS Reading/ELA.

The campus also was recognized in the category of commended reading/English-Language Arts for having 30 percent or more of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400 with a 2 or higher on the essay.

In the category of commended math, the campuses was recognized for having 30 percent or more of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400).

In the commended writing category, the campus was recognized for having 30 percent or more of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400 with a 3 or higher on the writing essay).

“These acknowledgments show that not only are high percentages of our students passing state tests and college entrance exams, but they are scoring very high,” said Pettus ISD Superintendent Tucker Rackley. “The college-ready graduate acknowledgement is a new and very prestigious acknowledgment standard for 2009.”

Pawnee ISD also was recognized by the TEA, and received a commended performance rating in science, social studies and was recognized for its achievement in the category of comparable improvement in reading.

Skidmore-Tynan Independent School District received a total of 17 Gold Performance Acknowledgement’s from the Texas Education Agency.

Twelve acknowledgements were received at the campus levels and five at the district level.

S-TISD Elementary received four campus acknowledgements, S-T Junior High School received three campus acknowledgements and S-T High School received five campus acknowledgements.

S-TISD’s academic performance measures are based on the individual and cumulative performance of Economically Disadvantaged, Hispanic and Anglo student populations, the school district reported.