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Cleburne ISD rated a Blue Ribbon school system
By Staff reports
Apr 3, 2006 - 4:10:00 PM

Cleburne ISD has been rated a Blue Ribbon school system by Expansion Management magazine following a nationwide study of 2,800 districts serving middle school and high school students. The award ranks CISD within the upper third of those districts included in the study.

The December 2005 edition of the business magazine featured a report on its annual “Education Quotient” focusing on school districts with a total enrollment of 3,300 or more secondary students. The study utilized a weighted scale in measuring results of the selected school districts in three major categories: Graduate Outcome-academic performance and how many students stay to graduate; Resource Index-measuring a community’s financial commitment to education and Community Index-measuring a community’s adult education and income levels.

The criteria included data relating to student to teacher ratios, teacher salaries and per pupil spending.

The publication’s Education Quotient report is designed to provide companies “with a way to compare communities nationwide in terms of the quality of work force they are likely to encounter should they choose to open a manufacturing, distribution or other business facility there,” according to Bill King, chief editor of Expansion Management.

“In today’s knowledge-based global economy, nothing is more important to companies than the ability to find, and employ, an increasingly well-educated work force,” King said. “People who evaluate communities for business expansion require a good education system. Communities with excellent schools can expect to come out on top when the site selectors come calling to create new jobs.”

Jerry Cash, Cleburne’s director of economic development, is in complete agreement.

“A well-trained and educated work force is high on the priority list of companies seeking sites to build new facilities,” Cash said. “Competition is very tough in locating a new business or industry. Cleburne often competes with up to 100 cities in trying to win them over to locating here.”

Magazine researchers calculated the Education Quotient assessed to each school district using a scale of 1 (lowest) to 99 (highest), with 50 serving as the midpoint. From this assessment, each district was then given a rating, beginning with the Gold Medal, for systems ranking in the top 16 percent and the Blue Ribbon, for districts, including Cleburne, ranking in the top third nationally.

Districts which finished midpoint on the analysis scale were listed as a Green Flag. Those finishing in the bottom 25 percent were marked with a Yellow Flag and those within the bottom 10 percent received a Red Flag rating.

“Unlike many other educational ratings, which equate excellence to the level of public funding received, the EQ focuses primarily on results,” states the magazine in its December issue. “Although it includes data on spending, teacher salaries and the socioeconomic background of the surrounding communities, by far the most important factors are the test scores and graduation rates.”

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