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TEA has released its final accountability plan for rating districts and campuses for 2009 and beyond, which will remain in effect until implementation of the new accountability system begins in the 2011-12 school year. In 2009, the Legislature passed House Bill 3, which revised the state's accountability system for the first time in a decade.

The existing state accountability system undergoes annual review, with input from an Educator Focus Group, the Commissioner’s Accountability Advisory Committee (CAAC) and others, and the Commissioner makes final determinations based on this input. The 2009 Accountability Manual and a full account of TEA’s final accountability decisions are available on the TEA website, with new accountability ratings scheduled for release on July 31, 2009.

Highlights of the Commissioner's decisions
2009 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Standards
The 2009 TAKS standards needed for "academically acceptable" will increase by five percentage points to 70% for writing and social studies, 55% for mathematics and 50% for science. The reading/English language arts (ELA) standards will remain unchanged between 2008 and 2009 at 70%. The "recognized" standard of 75%, which applies to all subjects, is unchanged between 2008 and 2009, as is the "exemplary" standard of 90%.

In 2010, the "academically acceptable" standards will increase by five percentage points to 60% for mathematics and 55% for science, while the reading/ELA, writing and social studies standards will remain at 70%. In addition, the "recognized" standard will increase from 75% to 80%, while the "exemplary" standard will remain unchanged at 90%.

Incorporating TAKS-Accommodated (TAKS-A)
The TAKS-A is an on-grade level assessment designed for students receiving special education services. In 2009, the TAKS-A results are combined with the TAKS results into a single indicator for the same grades and subjects used in 2008, as follows:
• Science (grades 5, 8, 10 & 11– English; grade 5–Spanish)
• Social studies (grades 8, 10 & 11)
• ELA (grade 11)
• Mathematics (grade 11)


Beginning in 2010, the TAKS indicator will include these additional TAKS-A tested grades and subjects:
• Reading/ELA (grades 3 through 10–English; grades 3 through 6–Spanish)
• Mathematics (grades 3 through 10–English; grades 3 through 6–Spanish)
• Writing (grades 4 and 7–English; grade 4–Spanish)

According to the Commissioner, the reasons for combining the TAKS and TAKS-A results into a single indicator include: Special education students who take the TAKS-A are assessed on the same test questions given to all students, including special education students assessed on the regular TAKS. Both TAKS and TAKS-A have the same "met standard" and "commended performance" student passing standards; also the inclusion of TAKS results for special education students is not new. Special education students taking the regular state assessment tests on grade level have been included in the state rating system since 1998-99. In addition, combining TAKS-A and TAKS results maintains the same number of measures in the state accountability system. Inclusion of TAKS-A with TAKS parallels the use of the combined results in the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system.

Use of Texas Projection Measure (TPM)
Beginning in 2009, the TPM will be used in the calculations for AYP and for campus and district ratings. The TPM provides a method for measuring student growth toward achieving grade-level proficiency. For state accountability ratings, the TPM will be evaluated as a means of elevating a campus or district rating in cases where neither the TAKS base indicator nor Required Improvement (RI) are sufficient to allow a campus or district to earn the next higher rating. RI, which evaluates gain demonstrated by an entire campus or district for a given measure, rather than individual student growth, will continue to be a feature of the system in addition to the use of TPM. The TPM will be calculated for all grades and subjects except grade 7 writing and all subjects in grade 11. A TPM will not be available for grade 8 science until 2010.


Exceptions Provision Minimum Performance Floor
The Exceptions Provision has been a feature of the accountability system since the 2004 ratings year. The rationale for the provision was to provide a mechanism for avoiding the "academically unacceptable" rating for new indicators or indicators that were being phased in to the system. It was also designed to provide greater relief for larger campuses and districts serving more diverse student populations who are evaluated on more measures.


The Exceptions Provision was significantly modified in 2008 to allow campuses and districts to achieve a "recognized" or "exemplary" rating, and to increase the number of exceptions allowed from three to four in order to achieve the "recognized" or "academically acceptable" ratings. While the minimum performance floor for math and science was relaxed to 10 points below the standard in 2008, beginning in 2009, the minimum performance floor that must be met for an exception to be used will return to five points below the standard for all subjects. The use of the TPM in the 2009 ratings system supports the increased rigor of higher minimum floors in math and science.

School Leaver Provision (SLP)
The SLP will not be continued in the 2009 accountability year. Under the SLP, the completion rate, annual dropout rate and underreported students indicators could not be the sole cause for a lowered campus or district rating.


Completion Rate Indicator
For 2009 and 2010, the standards for the grades 9-12 completion rate will remain at 75% for "academically acceptable," 85% for "recognized" and 95% for "exemplary." Districts/campuses can either meet the completion rate standards or demonstrate enough improvement in their rates to meet the "academically acceptable" or "recognized" standard in two years.


Annual Dropout Rate
(Grade 7-8) Indicator
The annual dropout rate is calculated by summing the number of dropouts across the two grades. A standard of 2% was set for both 2008 and 2009 for all ratings to provide additional time for campuses and districts to adjust local programs to target categories of students not previously identified as dropouts and to adjust recovery activities to correlate with the school start window. Use of the more rigorous National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) dropout definition has had a significant impact on dropout rates, due to a reclassification of students previously not considered to be dropouts. The 2010 ratings will use a 1.8% standard for 2008-09 dropouts, which will initiate a multi-year phase-in process to a more rigorous dropout rate with an ultimate goal of 1%.


Hurricane Ike
Performance results on state assessments of all students displaced by Hurricane Ike will not be considered in 2009 accountability ratings. This recognizes that districts and campuses should not be penalized for serving students who have been through a traumatic event that puts them at an educational disadvantage.


2009-10 Gold Performance Acknowledgments (GPA)
A new college-ready graduates indicator will be implemented with a standard of 35%. The college-readiness indicator is the count of graduates who score at or above the college-ready criteria on the TAKS exit-level test, the SAT test, or the ACT test in ELA and math, divided by the number of graduates with results in both subjects to evaluate. The standards for the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) indicators for ELA and mathematics will increase again in 2009 to 60% and in 2010 to 65%. The standard for the "commended performance" for all subjects will increase by five percentage points in 2009 to 30%, where it will remain in 2010. The standard for the recommended high school program/distinguished achievement program will increase from 80% to 85% in 2009 and will remain at 85% in 2010. The advanced course/dual enrollment completion indicator will increase to 30% in 2009, where it will remain in 2010.

Posted: 07/01/09 ("The Classroom Teacher," summer 2009)