Friendswood ISD and all six of its campuses received an overall A rating in the 2019 state accountability ratings. However, Cline Elementary School received a D in school progress due to the amount of years students at the school are tested, according to a presentation given at the board’s Sept. 9 meeting.

Because the highest grade at Cline is 3rd, they only have one year of testing and do not receive an academic growth rating, Guzzetta said. This also means they have a smaller pool of students being compared to larger elementary schools with more test scores to compare.

“In their comparison group of 40 schools, only two other schools stopped at third grade,” said Stacy Guzzetta, the district’s executive director of student operations, who presented the accountability results to FISD’s board of trustees. “They still received an overall A.”

School Progress ratings are divided into two sections: academic growth and relative performance. Academic growth compares students’ scores year to year within the school, and relative performance compares the overall scores to schools with similar socio-economic demographics in the state. Bales Intermediate School and Friendswood Junior High School received C’s in school progress as well.

In the state accountability system, districts and campuses are rated in three domains and then assigned an overall rating. The three domains are Student Achievement, Student Progress and Closing the Gaps.

Other agenda items included a presentation on the new elementary literacy assessment system and the demographic update report.

The demographic report noted that while the demographics of Friendswood have remained largely the same since the last report, there have been several neighborhoods brought into development.

The report also projected some overcrowding issues at the elementary schools over the next ten years, and looked at a facility to replace Cline as a possible solution.