New standards, hard work turn
Texas problem school around

By Michael Bazeley
Mercury News Staff Writer

HOUSTON, TX - Located in one of the city's poorest ghettos, Key Middle School used to symbolize all the failings of the American public education system.

The hallways were dirty and the lockers were scarred with graffiti. Parents would come on campus and start fights with their children. Teacher morale was low. Student achievement was abysmal. And when discipline was meted out, it was light.

Veteran teacher Louis Bailey still remembers the time an arrogant male student walked into a roomful of teachers and greeted them by saying, "Good morning, whores.''

In 1994, those problems bought Key a "low-performing'' rating from the state -- one of six in Houston.

That's changed now.

Key has a new principal. Its test scores are better. The hall floors wear a slippery clean shine. Enrollment has doubled. And in 1995, Key was given an ``acceptable'' rating.

Teachers say being under the watchful eye of the state has made a difference.

"If you're a low-performing school, it makes you work that much harder,'' said dean of instruction Orbdella McLamb. "We do realize we're a low-performing school.''

Now test preparation starts early at Key. Teachers and administrators meet before the school year starts to review the previous year's results of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test. They look for Key's weak spots, and those become the focus of instruction the rest of the year.

Students who need extra help are nudged into Saturday tutorials, enticed with giveaways such as amusement park tickets, Walkman radios and water bottles. Two weeks before the actual test in late April, students take a practice TAAS, essentially a full redo of last year's exam.

"From the beginning of the school year, you prepare for it,'' said Key history teacher William Early. "Even the typing class is geared toward TAAS.''

In 1996, Key boosted its passing rate on the math portion of the test by a whopping 42 points to 73 percent. In reading, the passing rate jumped from 57 percent to 75. And the writing exam pass rate jumped 21 points to 92 percent.

Low-performing schools are not left to solve their problems entirely on their own. A state team visits the schools annually to evaluate their progress and help them develop ``school improvement'' plans. Schools also get extra state funding to pay help for the Saturday tutorials.

All the hard work has paid off for Key. No one would have guessed it five years ago, but the school that Houston officials once wanted to shut down now has parents clamoring to get their kids in.

"We have to turn them away now,'' said Assistant Principal Bernett Harris. ``To say that people want to come to Key . . . that's a success story.''