TEXAS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT

Texas Academic Performance Report: Hoffman Middle School

Lynette ONeal
University of St. Thomas
EDUC 5390 PSEL
Dr. Walters
September 10, 2015

TEXAS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT

Texas Academic Performance Report: Hoffman Middle School

Hoffman Middle School is a Title I school located in Northwest Houston, Texas. Students
attending Hoffman Middle School reside primarily in Acres Homes, a predominantly lowincome neighborhood. Although a few students come from surrounding middle-class
neighborhoods, most students are from Acres Homes. Hoffman Middle School also has the
distinction of being an IB World School and a school within a school under its partnership with
Yes Prep. However, these distinctions do not necessarily translate into higher scores or
recognition that Hoffman Middle School is a high-performing school. To the contrary, a close
look at the Campus Performance Report reveals that Hoffman is a school in need of assistance.
The 2013-2014 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) provided by the Texas
Education Agency shows that seventh grade students had a 63% passing rate in Reading, 55%
passing rate in Mathematics, and 53% passing rate in Writing. Eighth grade students performed
slightly better in Reading with a passing rate of 79% and 74% in Mathematics, but in Science,
only 57% of the students passed and in Social Studies, only 44% passed. For all subjects, 61% of
the students passed. The scores for special populations such as African Americans, Special
Education, and English Language Learners were far worse than the overall scores for the
campus. Worst yet, the scores for 2014 showed a drop of five or more percentage points across
the board. The bright spot for the campus is those students taking the End of Course Exam in
Algebra scoring 100% passing across the board, year after year and the only area that performed
above the State average before Sixth Grade students attending Hoffman were included in 2014.
So how is it that a campus that was a 2014 Magnet School of Distinction according to
Magnet Schools of America can perform so poorly, but not be an Improvement Required school

TEXAS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT

according to the Texas Education Agency? The numbers are not clear. But here is what else they
do show.
More than 40% of Hoffmans staff is a beginning teacher or within their first five years of
teaching. Of this staff, most are African American (67%) and White (21%), while most of its
students are Hispanic (57%). Hoffman students also have a high mobility rate (25%), with
African Americans accounting for 13% and Hispanics contributing an additional 7% mobility. In
addition, Hoffman has a large English Language Learner (ELL) population totaling 16% of its
students.
Funding could be allocated in a different manner to help improve student scores.
Additional Hispanic teachers, as well as ESL teachers could be hired to support the population of
the school. The TAPR shows that the campus only has 1.4 ESL/Bilingual teachers and 11
Hispanic teachers. In addition, the campus must ensure that it has the resources available to meet
the needs of its students in terms of materials to adapt to the language needs of its students,
materials for use at home, and technology in the classrooms to make all content accessible.
Moreover, the campus has to ensure that the resources are used efficiently by making sure
that interventions occur early and often for those students most in need if it intends to have an
impact on students scores. The TAPR showed that only 38% of students received accelerated
instruction in Reading after the first administration of the STAAR test, but additional information
is needed to determine what other interventions were provided before testing to ensure that the
needs of students were met. Resources could also be used to provide training and development to
meet the diverse needs of the student population and ensure cultural sensitivity.
If I were the administrator in charge, I would survey the staff, students, parents and
community to see what they believed was most essential to turn the performance of the school

TEXAS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT

around. I would then seek to observe and gather data and information from surrounding schools
that were similarly situated and benchmark them to see what was working. From there, I would
work with my Site Based Decision Making Team to develop a budget to put the funds and
resources in the areas in most need of additional support. One of the primary areas I would begin
is hiring additional ESL/Bilingual teachers, given the size of this student population. I would
then focus on parent education so that the parents would know of what could be done at home to
best support their child (ren) and the school. I would also seek to provide incentives for students
and staff to improve morale and discipline.
Although the scores are low, there are things that can be done to turn Hoffman Middle
School around. It will take the time, effort, and patience of all involved to ensure that Hoffman
continues to perform at a level that prevents it from being a school on the Improvement Required
(IR) list by the Texas Education Agency.