Austin, TX –
The number of Academically Unacceptable schools, districts and charters rose this year as the state implemented tougher standards, but 27.3 percent of campuses and 14.5 percent of districts still managed to achieve an Exemplary or Recognized rating under the more rigorous system, the Texas Education Agency announced today.
The agency released ratings from the state's standard and alternative accountability procedures for more than 1,200 school districts and charter operators and about 7,900 campuses.
The percentage of schools and districts receiving ratings of Academically Acceptable and Academically Unacceptable increased in 2005, while the percentage of those earning the top two ratings of Exemplary or Recognized fell.
Sixty-one districts - 19 regular school districts and 42 charter operators - received the state's lowest rating of Academically Unacceptable today under either the standard or alternative accountability rating procedures. That compares to 24 - four regular school districts and 20 charter operators - that received this rating in 2004.
Among the state's 7,908 schools, a total of 364 were rated Academically Unacceptable, up from 95 in 2004. Among traditional schools, 4.1 percent or 313 campuses received the low rating. Among the state's charter school campuses, 17.2 percent or 51 campuses were rated Academically Unacceptable.
"Texas educators are working long hours and doing everything possible to ensure all 4.4 million students we serve receive a world class education, but the 2004-2005 school year was a year of challenges that resulted in an increase in low ratings for our schools," Commissioner of Education Shirley J. Neeley said. "The increase in unacceptable ratings was caused by a number of significant factors," she said.
Among those are:
-Passing standards on the state's Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) were fully phased-in at grades 3-10.
-Alternative education campuses were rated in 2005. They were not rated in 2004 because new alternative accountability rating procedures were under development at that time.
-The State-Developed Alternative Assessment II (SDAA II), a TAKS-aligned exam given to thousands of special education students in grades 3-10, was used for the first time. The SDAA II is more comprehensive than its predecessor, the SDAA. It was also the first time this type of exam was given in grades 9 and 10. Although the SDAA II has now been given and scored, it has not yet been released for public review. As a money saving measure, Texas law allows state tests to be released only every other year. Because of federal requirements, educators were forced to immediately set passing standards or expectations on the test for every student who took it. Previously, the first year was used as a baseline measure and growth measures or passing standards were not set for individual students until the second year.
-For campuses or districts that serve seventh and eighth grades, the rigor of the dropout standard for the Academically Acceptable rating increased from 2 percent in 2004 to 1 percent in 2005.
-Campuses and districts were evaluated on an annual dropout rate this year if they had five or more dropouts. In 2004, a school or district was not rated on this measure unless it had 10 or more dropouts.
-The same change in the minimum size requirement was made to the completion rate indicator used to judge high schools and districts. Now, they are rated on this measure if they have five or more dropouts, rather than the minimum size requirement of 10 used in 2004.
-More students were tested in 2005. Ninety-seven percent of the students in grades 3-11 took either the TAKS or SDAA II, compared to 95.4 percent in 2004.
The three most common reasons that districts and campuses received Academically Unacceptable ratings are failure to meet the SDAA II passing rate; performance on the science TAKS; or performance on the math TAKS. One of those three reasons was the sole reason that a total of 238 campuses received an Academically Unacceptable rating.
Exemplary:
"Despite a significant toughening of the system, 290 campuses - 287 regular campuses and three charter schools - earned the prestigious Exemplary rating. We are very proud of these schools. They are doing an excellent job serving their students day in and day out," the commissioner said. "I also applaud the outstanding job done by 9 school districts and one charter operator that earned the top rating," she said.
To earn an Exemplary rating, a district or campus achieved TAKS passing rates of 90 percent or higher for all students and each student group, which are African American, Hispanic, white and economically disadvantaged, and in each subject area. The TAKS covers reading/English language arts; writing; mathematics; science and social studies.
At least 90 percent of the students who took the SDAA II must meet the academic expectations set for them. A high school completion rate of 95 percent or higher and a grade 7-8 annual dropout rate of 0.2 percent or less was also required to achieve an Exemplary rating.
Recognized:
There are 168 districts - 157 regular school districts and 11 charter operators - that earned a rating of Recognized this year. This second highest rating was also earned by 1,866 campuses - 1,849 traditional campuses and 17 charter school campuses.
Those that earned a Recognized rating had TAKS passing rates of 70 percent or higher for each subject and for all students and each student group or met Required Improvement criteria. In order for a campus or district to achieve a Recognized rating through use of the Required Improvement criteria, they had to have TAKS passing rate of 65 to 69 percent and show enough improvement on TAKS since 2004 to reach the 70 percent passing level in two years. They also must have a passing rate of at least 70 percent on the SDAA II, a completion rate of 85 percent, or 80 percent and meet the Required Improvement criteria. An annual dropout rate of 0.7 percent was also required, or else they had a dropout rate of no more than 0.9 percent and met Required Improvement criteria.
Academically Acceptable:
The majority of Texas districts and campuses in 2005 earned the rating of Academically Acceptable. If they were rated under the state's standard accountability system, those earning this rating had TAKS passing rates for each student group of at least 50 percent on the following tests: reading/English language arts; writing; and social studies. They had passing rates of 35 percent or higher on the TAKS mathematics exams and 25 percent or higher on the science TAKS, or met Required Improvement criteria. They had passing rates of 50 percent or more on the SDAA II exam. High schools and districts had completion rates of 75 percent or more, or met the Required Improvement criteria, or an annual dropout rate of 1.0 percent or less, or met Required Improvement criteria.
For alternative education campuses registered to be rated under the alternative accountability procedures, all students and student groups must meet a 40 percent passing rate on TAKS or demonstrate Required Improvement, and have a completion rate of 75 percent or higher or demonstrate Required Improvement. They must also achieve a 40 percent passing rate on SDAA II, have a dropout rate of 10 percent or less for students in grades 7-12 or demonstrate Required Improvement.
This year, 986 districts - 852 regular school districts and 134 charter operators - received an Academically Acceptable rating under either the standard or alternative accountability rating procedures. The Academically Acceptable rating was received by 59.5 percent of the campuses in the state. Of the 4,707 schools that received this broad rating, 4,495 are traditional education campuses and 212 are charter schools. The vast majority of the schools earned the rating under the standard accountability procedures.
Any school, charter or district that fell below the Academically Acceptable criteria on one or more of 36 criteria received an Academically Unacceptable rating.
Not Rated:
Four charter operators and 681 campuses did not receive an accountability rating. Typically, those are campuses that serve pre-kindergarten through kindergarten, which are grades that have neither TAKS results nor completion or dropout rates; or Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs or other similar campuses to which students are assigned for a short time period.
Additional ratings information:
Ratings for each individual district, campus or charter school and additional accountability information are available at the Texas Education Agency website.