Aldine ISD Superintendent LaTonya Goffney inherited a struggling district when she took the helm in the 2018-19 school year, and the COVID-19 pandemic only made her job harder.
Still, state data show that while similar school districts have somewhat bounced back, Aldine still lags behind them under Goffney’s leadership.
As part of its investigation into Aldine’s performance under Goffney, the Houston Landing analyzed seven years of data from the Texas Education Agency to get an idea of how students and staff are performing compared to those in four districts of similar size and demographics.
Below are six charts that give insight into where Aldine stands among its peers in academic performance, readiness for life after high school and teacher staffing.
Academic performance
Math test scores saw little bounceback post-pandemic
Academic performance in math and reading plummeted statewide as a result of the pandemic. Four years later, districts across Texas are still struggling to bounce back, but Aldine has seen relatively less improvement.
The year before Goffney became superintendent, Aldine test scores in math were just under nearby districts, with 40 percent of students meeting grade level expectations. At the time, Aldine was even outperforming demographically similar Dallas-area schools in Fort Worth ISD by five percentage points.
Five years and one pandemic later, the most recent data show that Aldine had the largest decline in math test scores compared to similar districts, dropping to 27 percent of students scoring at grade level in 2023-24. Meanwhile, regional peers in Pasadena and Alief ISDs saw differences of 3 and 8 percentage points, respectively. Aldine also underperformed Fort Worth in the pandemic’s aftermath but later surpassed the district by 1 percentage point last year.
Already-low reading test scores have remained flat
Aldine had the lowest reading test scores in the 2017-18 school year compared to demographically similar districts, with 31 percent of students meeting grade level expectations. The most recent data shows that Aldine has recovered 3 percentage points — the second-smallest gain among five peer districts during that time period.
Postgraduate readiness
Graduation rate hasn’t budged
Students at Aldine have been graduating at lower rates than similar districts for the last six years. Graduation rates peaked at 83 percent in the 2020-21 school year, two years after Goffney became superintendent, but have been on a slight decline since.
Superintendent Goffney inherited an 8 percentage point gap between Aldine and regional peers in Pasadena and Alief from the 2017-18 school year. The most recent data shows that Aldine’s graduation rate is still behind these districts by 9 and 6 percentage points, respectively.
Once a competitor, post-high school preparation now lags behind
Texas uses multiple metrics to determine whether a student is ready for college, a career or the military after high school, a measure commonly known as CCMR. The most recent data suggests that students from Aldine are less prepared for what comes next in life than students in similar districts.
The year Goffney became superintendent, 59 percent of students exiting Aldine were deemed ready for life after high school by the state, slightly outperforming nearby Pasadena and Alief. But the CCMR rates for Pasadena and Alief have since grown to 89 percent and 77 percent, respectively, in the 2022-23 school year, while Aldine’s has yet to reach 65 percent.
Teacher staffing
A recent outlier in first-year teacher staffing
Aldine has had a higher share of educators without prior teaching experience than Pasadena and Alief for almost every year since the 2016-17 school year. The year Goffney took office, first-year teachers made up 6 percent of all educators in Aldine, Pasadena and Alief. Since then, however, Aldine has seen a growing share of first-year teachers in its schools.
Aldine saw its largest year-over-year spike in first-year teachers over the last two years, with an increase of 10 percentage points. First-year teachers made up 19 percent of all educators at Aldine in the 2022-23 school year — 8 percentage points more than Pasadena and Irving ISDs. Teacher staffing data for the 2023-24 school year is not yet available.
Relatively high teacher turnover in recent years
While teacher turnover at Aldine and similar districts has been on the rise since the 2020-21 school year, Aldine saw the steepest increase. The share of teachers who did not return in the new school year went up from 15 percent to 27 percent in 2022-23.
Among the five comparable districts, this is the highest percentage point increase and highest rate for the most recent year for which data is available. Irving has the second-highest share of teacher turnover behind Aldine at 24%, 10 percentage points more than the 2020-21 school year.
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