Friday, Aug. 01, 2008

TEA Raises Standards for School Ratings

By Nicholas Sakelaris

Staff Writer

The Texas Education Agency will release school accountability ratings at 1 p.m. Friday.

The 2008 ratings will reflect new accountability standards set by TEA for both schools and school districts.

The rating system is based largely on student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and has four levels: exemplary, recognized, academically acceptable and academically unacceptable.

Last year, Carroll was the only 5A district in the state to have an exemplary rating at its campuses.

The TEA has investigated testing irregularities at Old Union Elementary School after anonymous allegations were made against the school’s principal, who has since resigned.

The district has said they did not know if the findings would affect the school’s accountability rating.

This year, for the first time, TEA will count eighth-grade science tests toward the district’s rating.

"It’s a new test," TEA spokesperson Suzanne Marchman said. "They gave districts a few years to get used to being tested at that level."

New this year, TEA will count eighth-grade science tests toward the district’s rating.

In addition, standards have increased this year for campuses to reach an acceptable rating.

Science has gone up from a 40 percent passing rate to 45 percent. Mathematics have increased from 45 percent to 50 percent and English language arts and reading has gone up to 70 percent from 65 percent. The changes were made by the Commissioner’s Accountability Administration Committee, which consists of superintendents, legislators and other educators.

"They’ll continue to ratchet up those standards until they get 70 percent acceptable," Marchman said.

That means, for example, 70 percent of all students in all subgroups must pass each portion of the test for campus to be considered acceptable. The subgroups are white, Hispanic, African American and economically disadvantaged.

The dropout rate — a factor in the TEA rating formula that is usually not an issue locally — has also changed this year.

If a campus has a dropout rate of more than 2 percent, it will receive an academically unacceptable rating.

The state defines a dropout as a student in grade 7 through 12 who did not return to public school in Texas or outside the state, did not graduate, receive a GED and were not expelled.