COLDSPRING – A grant that provides high school campuses rated “Academically Unacceptable” by the state will help Coldspring-Oakhurst High School improve its accountability rating with Texas Education Agency.

During the Dec. 18 meeting, board members heard a report on the district’s 2006-2007 Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report presented by Curriculum Director Cindy Cummings.

The high school was rated “unacceptable” in 2006-2007 and math and science coaches are currently working with teachers in an attempt to get the rating up to “Academically Acceptable,” according to Superintendent Dr. Lynn Cummins.

“It was recommended that we implement CSCOPE to help us. With the help of Region VI Education Service Center, we’ve already started training teachers and have workshops scheduled on classroom instruction,” Cummins said.

The Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) includes a team of service centers that represents all areas of the state. The goal is to provide a quality curriculum support system to Texas K-12 schools. TESCCC has dev eloped CSCOPE, a comprehensive, customized, user-friendly curriculum support system. In addition to the curriculum, CSCOPE encompasses resources for the implementation, monitors the curriculum and establishes an accountability process to ensure a quality implementation.
Lessons are all aligned with the TEKS/TAKS and each lesson meets the standards of rigor and relevance.

Earlier in the year, the district applied for a $300,000 Texas High School Redesign and Restructuring Grant that will help with the cost. Board members approved acceptance of the grant during the meeting.

“We should know by mid-January if the grant is approved,” Cummins said. The grant starts March 1, he said.

The grant provides high school campuses that have been rated Academically Unacceptable by the state with resources needed to implement school-wide initiatives designed to improve student performance. Funding from the grant will also help provide campus leadership, to improve the school’s instructional effectiveness in regards to student achievement, to improve or increase student achievement, to raise academic standards and improve the campus spirit or morale.

Grant funds may not be used to purchase new equipment and/or to assist in the reconstruction of buildings or other school structures.

Cummins told board members that no more than 20 percent of the total grant funds may be budgeted and expended on salaries and benefits. She said other examples of purchases not allowed to be used with the grant funds include the construction of new buildings, renovation or remodeling of existing structures, high school fundraising activities of any kind; non-educational field trips; payment to a student who has not graduated for services as a tutor or a mentor; lease purchase agreements, including lease-purchase of portable buildings; the purchase of new furniture; indirect costs; writing grants to obtain other grant funds; and training on grant writing.

In other business, board members discussed the district’s option under House Bill 1137 to allow a person who is between 21 and 26 years of age to be admitted to public school to complete the requirements for a high school diploma.