School officials have more questions after the Texas Education Agency released its letter grade accountability ratings on Friday.
The letter grade system was mandated by the 84th Legislature, but are not the official ratings of schools or districts. School districts and schools are rated for the 2015-16 school year by the met standards or improvement required status that was released in August.
Snyder ISD Superintendent Jim Kirkland said the letter grade system, while on paper may look simple, but it is not.
“What makes this so unfair is that the Texas Education Agency is trying to devise a simple scoring system for school districts and campuses that in its methodology, is not simple,” Kirkland said. “The district has no control over such (grading points) as economically disadvantaged students. The state is putting a big chunk, 55 percent, based on the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test results. The grades released do not really reflect our accountability score.”
Hermleigh ISD Superintendent Brent Dawson said the ratings that were released were for one group — state lawmakers.
“We look at these preliminary ratings for what they are — work-in-progress reports designed strictly for legislators,” Dawson said. “According to the commissioner, these grades should not be used to draw conclusions about a district’s performance or make any sort of prediction. Hermleigh ISD achieved all performance criteria set forth by the state and our official accountability rating is met standard.”
Dawson said the school district is accountable to one group.
“More than anything else, Hermleigh ISD is accountable to the children and parents we serve,” he said. “The satisfaction and approval from our community will always mean more than a letter given to us by the state.”
Ira ISD Superintendent Jay Waller said the system does not reflect the information needed to grade schools.
“The grading system the state adopted, I do not believe fairly reflects the information needed and expected by the stakeholders and places undue pressure on students and teachers. Flaws that Ira sees is that the formula has no counter balance measures for high performing schools in the growth piece and inaccurate reports on small schools working on percentages and values reflecting small student numbers,” Waller said. “This is not a reflection of the outcome that our stakeholders are looking for in accountability.”
He said the grades should have a limited value to the public.
“The grade has limited value because to the public what describes the A, B, C, D, F, there is no explanation of what a letter grade represents nor how it was derived. The public has to be better informed as to the value and how it was given,” Waller said. “In placing values on domains those should be more equal to each other instead of prioritizing values on tests and devaluing progress or grade levels or many other important instructional areas. The equity of the system of accountability should be based on factors that are relevant to school size and performance of multiple factors not such a high value on a single testing assessment document.”
A grade was given for student achievement, student progress, closing the gap and post-secondary readiness.
Student achievement represented how students fared on the STAAR tests during the 2015-16 school year. Student progress represents how students fared on the STAAR tests in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15.
Closing the gap is a measure used to determine how schools and districts are helping economically disadvantaged students. Post-secondary readiness includes absenteeism, dropout rates and graduation rates.
Snyder ISD received D ratings in student progress and post-secondary readiness and F ratings in student achievement and closing the gap. Snyder High School received Ds in student achievement, student progress and post-secondary readiness and an F in closing the gap. Snyder Junior High School received a B in post-secondary readiness and an F in the other three areas.
Snyder Intermediate School received a C in student progress and post-secondary readiness, a D in student achievement and an F in closing the gap. Snyder Primary School received a D in student achievement and post-secondary readiness and Fs in student progress and closing the gap.
Hermleigh ISD and Hermleigh School received a C in student progress and Fs in the remaining three areas.
Ira ISD and Ira School received an A in student progress, B in post-secondary readiness and Cs in student achievement and closing the gap.
Commissioner of Education Mike Morath issued a statement on the ratings Friday.
“It is important to note that the met standard/improvement required ratings issued in August 2016 and updated in November 2016 are the official academic accountability ratings for the 2015-16 school year. A similar process will be used for the 2016–17 school year,” Morath said. “The ratings released today are for informational purposes to meet a legislative requirement and represent work-in-progress models that are likely to change before A-F ratings become effective in August 2018. No inferences about official district or campus performance in the 2015-16 school year should be drawn from these ratings, and these ratings should not be considered predictors of future district or campus performance ratings.”
Texas Association of School Board’s Executive Director James B. Crow said, in a press release, the grading system is flawed.
“The Texas Legislature’s requirement to grade schools on an A-F scale is a flawed concept, and the preliminary ratings released to the public today fail to provide meaningful information about schools,” he said. “These new A-F ratings are just a symptom of the larger sickness — an unhealthy fixation on standardized testing and standardized expectations. There are 1,028 school districts in Texas, and no two are exactly the same. Trying to apply the same accountability measures primarily based on one standardized test is a disservice to our kids, their families and our educators.”
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