After earning overall D accountability ratings in annual grades provided by the Texas Education Agency in 2019, Bane Elementary School and Francone Elementary School are working on improvement plans.

Both Bane and Francone earned D ratings in the Student Achievement and Closing the Gaps domains. Both campuses have high economic disadvantage rates and are supported with additional Title I funds.

The TEA requires any public school that received a D in any domain of the accountability system to complete and implement a Targeted Improvement Plan.

Bane Principal Carrie Marz and Francone Principal Melissa Martin presented goals for their campuses over the next year at a Nov. 7 board workshop, including increasing 2019-20 overall ratings to B scores.

At Bane, goals include extending detailed lesson planning and having teachers become more proficient at data analyzation to identify areas of improvement. At Francone, goals include aligning curriculum and assessment to the state standards and collaborative lesson planning.


“Whenever we have a situation like this, tremendous pressure is placed upon the principals of the individual campuses, and I’m not certain that’s where the pressure needs to be placed,” trustee Tom Jackson said. “Clearly the pressure resides with us as trustees doing our job, but I would like for senior management to address the situation of how are we providing a degree of protection for the campus-level management.”

Chief Academic Officer Linda Macias said she takes responsibility for the scores and works as a team with campus administrators to support their students. Bane and Francone were the only two CFISD campuses to receive D ratings in any category.

District-level support systems at both schools include regular planning with content-area coaches and monthly campus visits from district leaders who provide feedback and suggestions for academic improvement.

“We’re monitoring that progress here at the district level, and as we’re evaluating the checkpoints and the different assessments that we’re doing, we are evaluating what other support systems need to be put in place,” Macias said.


2018-19 campus stats

Bane Elementary School
  • Student enrollment: 914
  • Economic disadvantage: 95.3%
  • English language learner: 46.1%
TEA ratings in 2018-19:
  • Overall rating: 69
  • Student Achievement: 59
  • School Progress: 70
  • Closing the Gaps: 68
Rating targets for 2019-20:
  • Overall rating: 84
  • Student Achievement: 76
  • School Progress: 85
  • Closing the Gaps: 80
Francone Elementary School
  • Student enrollment: 931
  • Economic disadvantage: 83.4%
  • English language learner: 25.3%
TEA ratings in 2018-19:
  • Overall rating: 72
  • Student Achievement: 69
  • School Progress: 74
  • Closing the Gaps: 66
Rating targets for 2019-20:
  • Overall rating: 85
  • Student Achievement: 80
  • School Progress: 88
  • Closing the Gaps: 78