Marilee Byrne is the principal for Milford ISD. “One of our biggest accomplishments this year was we were able to make recognized in our accountability rating and we are very proud of that.”

The next thing Milford ISD is trying to accomplish this year is to receive exemplary status. Byrne said, “In trying to reach exemplary status we have included in our scheduling a TAKS remediation class for those who did not pass their TAKS test the previous year or who had passed it but just barely passed it to give them some added tutorial and instruction time. Plus we do a massive tutorial program after school. All the teachers have at least one night a week, and some of them two, to help prepare the students for the upcoming TAKS test.”

Milford tenth graders always struggle with their TAKS scores being low because there is no accountability for the students in the tenth grade. So they applied for a waiver. Byrne said, “If they do not pass the TAKS test the school takes a hit but not the student. Last year we applied for and received a waiver from the state for one hundred and seventy days instead of one hundred and eighty days of instruction. The deal was the student had to be passing all of their classes, meet the ninety day attendance rule and pass all of their TAKS tests on the first administration. If they met all three of those requirements they got out of school ten days ahead of everyone else. And that tenth grade had one hundred percent passing in english-language arts, math, social studies and eighty two percent in science on the TAKS test. We were pleased with that and so were the students.”

Pre-K had to attend the whole one hundred and eighty days of school because there is no assessment tests for them. Kindergarten, first grade and second grade are assessed through the Texas Primary Reading Inventory program and then given a locally developed math assessment.

Milford ISD has a dual credit program contracted with Navarro College. Milford is too small to have a teacher, so they participate online. “One of our goals this year is to get more kids in the dual credit program. We have one of our teachers here, in the classroom with them to help them with questions, their technology problems, things of that nature. Most of them will take english, social studies, history, and some of them take government. That program is growing. We are hoping that more students will be able to take advantage of that dual credit program this year and have some college credits when they graduate high school,” explained principal Byrne.

Another goal is to see more students qualify for the National Honor Society. Marilee explained, “We had more students qualify for National Honor Society last year and we want to see that become a more viable part of the community in providing community service.”

“We are looking forward to a fantastic year. We have a highly dedicated faculty and staff with the expertise needed to provide these kids a quality education with individualized care and instruction and we are excited about it and looking forward to a great year.”

Milford ISD welcome back to school!