Texas Border Business
Alamo, Texas – Rodolfo Reyes, a 5th-grade science teacher at John McKeever Elementary in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo School District, recently became the first educator in the State of Texas and nation to be awarded the “Summit K12 Teaching Excellence Award” for achieving an 100 percent passing rate on the STAAR Science Assessment.
Summit K12’s Science Programs enable students to master their science standards regardless of their reading level. This past June, Summit K12 launched a recognition program aimed to highlight schools and educators that achieved double-digit growth on their state science assessments.
“Congratulations to Mr. Rodolfo Reyes for receiving the Teaching Excellence Award for guiding his students to a 100% passing rate on the STAAR Science Assessment,” said Summit K12 Founder & CEO John Kresky who flew in from out of town to present the inaugural award. “John McKeever Elementary was also awarded a banner for being the only school in the nation with 100% rising science scores and usage.”
According to PSJA Science Coordinator Susana Ramirez, 11 PSJA ISD elementary schools currently use the Summit K12’s Science Program during instruction for 5th-grade students. Of those, several also experienced significant improvement in their STAAR Assessment Scores including Ramirez Elementary, Carmen Anaya Elementary, Henry Ford Elementary and Santos Livas Elementary, to name a few.
“We’re very proud of Mr. Reyes and our teachers for their tremendous work and dedication,” said Ramirez. “It’s exciting to be the very first ones recognized for this achievement, but it’s all thanks to our teachers and administrators for going above and beyond.”
The PSJA Science Coordinator shared that due to the program’s easy to use and interactive interface, educators were able to easily implement it into their curriculum during lab instruction time. In addition, students were able to access the program at home through their phones or tablets throughout the year– a feature that helped further spark their interest in science.
“This school year our district science scores were higher than the state’s 75 percent average [we were] at 82 percent,” said Ramirez. “We definitely saw a significant improvement in our scores with the program as it was evident that the students’ loved it.”
