Blanco High School and Blanco Middle School have been named the recipients of Texas Education Agency Gold Performance Acknowledgments, earning a total of seven awards between the two campuses.

Blanco High School received three awards: one for Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate results, and one each in English Language Arts and Mathematics in the Texas Success Initiative—Higher Education Readiness.

The Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate award recognizes the percent of 11th and 12th graders taking at least one AP or IB examination, and the percent of 11th and 12th grade examinees scoring at or above the criterion on at least one examination (3 and above for AP; 4 and above for IB). The standard for award is 50% or more during the 2006-07 school year.

The Texas Success Initiative Readiness Component for English Language Arts recognizes the percent of grade 11 examinees with a scale score of 2200 or more and a score of 3 or higher on the essay of the Spring 2008 exam. The standard for the award is 55% or more; 68% of Blanco students met the criteria.

The Texas Success Initiative Readiness Component for Mathematics recognizes the percent of grade 11 examinees with a scale score of 2200 or more on the Spring 2008 exam. The standard for the award is 55% or more; 64% of Blanco students met the criteria.

Blanco Middle School, which is a state “Recognized” school, received four awards: three Commended Performance Awards for Reading/ELA, Writing, and Social Studies, and one Comparable Improvement Award for Mathematics. All awards were based upon scores from the Spring 2008 TAKS administration.

The Commended Performance Award recognizes campuses that had 25% or more students scoring at or above the commended performance standard of 2400 with a 3 or higher on the essay.

The Comparable Improvement Award recognizes campuses that placed in the top quartile (25%) of their campus group. The measure calculates how student performance on the TAKS test has changed (or grown) from one year to the next, and compares the change to that of the 40 schools that are demographically most similar to the target school.

Jennifer Seales, Blanco Middle School instructional specialist, said, “I am honored to be a part of the programs that we have created at Blanco Middle School. The hard work and support of the teachers and administrators has been a determining factor to the ongoing success of our students. Without a strong team of teachers, parents, students, and administrators our success would not be possible.”

Mr. Jesse Salazar, Blanco Middle School principal, said, “Blanco Middle School was able to achieve these results due to the persistent pursuit of academic excellence and the unyielding drive of teachers and staff to cultivate the minds of our future. This of course would not be possible without the support of parents and community members involved with these accomplishments.”

“I would like to thank the teachers and staff, parents, community members and my predecessor Dr. Ford for the solid foundation Blanco Middle School has become for our students. My goal is to continue these successes by supporting our students, teachers and staff in continuing on the path in producing life-long learners for the future. Go Panthers!!”