The preliminary results of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests are in for Nacogdoches County's school districts, but the final numbers won't be available until the end of July when schools will be rated based on the number of passing students.

The best and worst performing school districts, based on available information, were Douglass ISD, where more than 90 percent of students who took the TAKS test passed every subject, and coming in last for the county is Nacogdoches ISD, whose students managed to only crack the ninety percentile in social studies. By a wide margin, NISD had the lowest percentage of students passing in the science test at 71 percent. Statewide comparison numbers are not currently available from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

"The kids worked real hard, but of course it goes back to the staff, too, who did a great job with the kids and challenged them every day in the classroom," DISD Superintendent Jay Tullos said of his students, adding, "Both the kids and staff here have set a really high standard, and they've kept up to it every single year so far."

DISD has been a "recognized" district for several years due to the high percentage of passing students.

NISD Superintendant Dr. Rodney Hutto is out of town at an educational conference and was not available for comment by press time, but last year when the final numbers were handed down, two NISD schools, Nacogdoches High School and Fredonia Elementary School, scored below acceptable levels but were granted an exception from being tagged with the dubious "academically unacceptable" label because of the schools' significant black and Latino populations.

The Daily Sentinel was not able to obtain the preliminary results from Woden ISD by press time, but the other eight district results indicate that the subject presenting the biggest challenge to our county's school children is mathematics. While on the face of it, all of the reporting districts have met or exceeded the state's "academically acceptable" levels, but the final determination of that will depend on how white, black, Hispanic children and children from low income families performed on the test. If any single ethnic group falls below the acceptable level of passing, then the district will be rated on how that group performed, even if one or more of the other ethnic groups performed up to par, according to information from the TEA.

However a new change in TEA policy could potentially improve the preliminary scores for two subjects by projecting a student's success on next year's test. Basically, even if a child has failed to meet the minimum standards required to pass the test, they can be counted as passing when their score is entered into a mathematical formula and they are predicted to pass the test next year. The formula is based on the student's current performance on the TAKS test and the previous scores of the TAKS test of all the students at the school where the student attends. This is the first year that the TEA is using the formula, and it currently applies only to the math and reading portions of the test. Results from the science and social studies sections may be included in next year's formula.

The ever-evolving TAKS has been criticized heavily in the past for forcing teachers to teach for the test, and it has been said that the test is not a true reflection of a student's academic prowess. TAKS has been blamed for a narrowing of school curriculum and has also been attributed to rising drop out rates.

In Nacogdoches ISD alone, 23 high school seniors were prevented from graduating with their fellow students this year because they failed one or more portions of the TAKS after spending nearly 13 or 14 years in the public educational system. The Association of Professional Educators has been a staunch critic of the standardized test and conducted a study that concluded that 65 percent of teachers and parents said they believed the dropout rate would continue to rise because of the use of TAKS as a factor in determining graduation. The state Legislature voted in 2007 to end this controversial graduation policy and replaced it with exit-course exams, instead of exit-level exams, that will go into effect for incoming freshman for the 2011-2012. This means any student enrolled as a freshman or higher in the next two school years will be subject to the high school level TAKS test until they graduate. Private schools do not participate in TAKS since they do not receive state funding.

Here are the preliminary results for Nacogdoches County:

Central Heights Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 95 percent of students passed

Math- 88 percent of students passed

Writing- 95 percent of students passed

Science- 87 percent of students passed

Social Studies- percent of students passed 97

Chireno ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 91 percent of students passed

Math- 89 percent of students passed

Writing- 86 percent of students passed

Science- 80 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 95 percent of students passed

Cushing ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 93 percent of students passed

Math- 82 percent of students passed

Writing- 81 percent of students passed

Science- 78 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 93 percent of students passed

Douglass ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 96 percent of students passed

Math- 91 percent of students passed

Writing- 96 percent of students passed

Science- 91 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 99 percent of students passed

Etoile ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores (EISD only school's grades K-8)

Reading/English Language Arts- 97 percent of students passed

Math- 74 percent of students passed

Writing- 94 percent of students passed

Science- 93 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 91 percent of students passed

Garrison ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 93 percent of students passed

Math- 86 percent of students passed

Writing- 97 percent of students passed

Science- 81 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 97 percent of students passed

Martinsville Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 94 percent of students passed

Math- 81 percent of students passed

Writing- 99 percent of students passed

Science- 88 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 100 percent of students passed

Nacogdoches ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores

Reading/English Language Arts- 86 percent of students passed

Mathematics- 75 percent of students passed

Writing- 89 percent of students passed

Science- 71 percent of students passed

Social Studies- 91 percent of students passed

Woden ISD Preliminary TAKS Scores were not available by press time