North - Northwest Austin Edition | November 2023

Education

BY HANNAH NORTON & JAMES T. NORMAN

TEA temporarily blocked from issuing new A-F accountability ratings

What changed?

Some of the changes officials take issue within the new TEA A-F ratings are as follows:

The graduation rate component has increased by 2% as they have increased steadily since 2017.

injunction. If the agency appeals, the injunction would stand until a final determination is made, according to court documents. If a district or one of its campuses receives a failing grade for five consecutive years, the state can intervene. Districts can expect to lose revenue if their accountability ratings drop, Reynolds-Perez said, as some parents will withdraw their children and send them to other schools. “This ruling completely disregards the laws of this state and, for the foreseeable future, prevents any A-F performance information from being issued to help millions of parents and educators improve the lives of our students," said TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky.

A district court temporarily blocked the Texas Education Agency from issuing its new accountability ratings for public schools, siding on Oct. 26 with over 100 school districts who sued the agency calling the ratings “unlawful.” Some schools said updates to the TEA’s A-F accountability system would substantially lower performance ratings despite indications that performance has improved. A few weeks after the case—Kingsville ISD, et. al., v. Morath—was filed in August, the TEA announced Sept. 12 it was delaying the release of the new ratings, which would be based on performance and test scores for the 2022-23 school year. The TEA said it would immediately appeal the

The goal post for College, Career and Military Readiness has increased drastically; the original rating system required districts to hit 60% in order to receive an A, which has now been increased to 88% Ultimately, under the new rating system, 15% of Texas school districts would see a decrease in its ratings. 14% of districts would see an increase but about 70% would see little to no change.

Specifically, 47% of high schools and 26% of K-12 campuses would see a decrease in ratings.

Among the A-F grades, A and B would see the most percentage changes.

SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT

The A-F accountability system was established by the 2017 Texas Legislature. Ratings are based on a variety of factors, including:

The framework TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said the agency updated its A-F system to:

What’s next?

Account for students on alternate paths, including those who previously dropped out Increase focus on the “lowest- performing,” or most at-risk, students Align the STAAR test with classroom instruction Better reflect student achievement coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic

The annual State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness

“We look forward to future conversations with [TEA

Commissioner] Mike Morath about how to implement the assessment and accountability system in a manner that is fair and transparent for all school districts in the state of Texas,” the Texas Association of School Administrators said in a statement. The trial on the case will take place at 9 a.m. Feb. 12.

Academic growth

High school graduation rates

Student preparedness for college, a career or the military

SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT

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