Tomorrow (Friday, July 29) just after 1:00 p.m., TEA plans to post the final accountability ratings along with a press briefing by Commissioner Scott to speak to the results. We know that most of you have been bracing yourselves for what will appear to be bad news and that some of you have already gone to your local media to explain some misconceptions. In an effort to get everyone on the same page and to, as an entire Texas public school system, explain this complex and easily misleading information to the media and community, TSPRA has developed some talking points. Hopefully this information (along with support from your C&I department and superintendent) will help you find the most concise and effective way of explaining the accountability changes.
REMEMBER: While you may understand the ins and outs of subgroups and base indicators and ELL and TAKS-ALT, this is one area that the vast majority of your public has no working knowledge of…beyond Recognized = Good; anything else = Bad. All they generally want to know is:
- What is the main one or two reasons your rating changed (if it did)?
- What is your district doing to address that change?
It’s not necessary (or effective) to use this opportunity to try and explain every nook and cranny of the accountability ratings system.
That said…good luck! Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions; we’re happy to help.
TALKING POINTS ON 2011 ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS
Click the link above to download a PDF copy
- “Achievement levels have not changed (or lowered). How ratings are calculated has changed.”
- “Standards for accountability are a moving target – criteria changes from year to year.”
- “TPM (Texas Projection Measure) and TGI (Texas Growth Index) have been discontinued. The 2011 accountability ratings indicate how students actually performed, not what they were predicted to do.”
- “The system rates more students than in previous years. Students who have in years past been omitted from calculations are now part of the mix.” [reference: all tested special education students are now factored into the formulas.]
- “For the first time, commended performance for all students and economically disadvantaged students in math and ELA are factored into the recognized and exemplary ratings along with an ELL (English Language Learner) progress indicator.
What this means is that additional indicators are being used to determine the higher ratings.”
- “Student groups are defined to be the major ethnic groups as well as students designated as economically disadvantaged. All of the evaluated groups must meet the criteria for a given rating category in order to earn that label.”
- “Five base indicators are used to determine ratings: (1) percentage of students passing TAKS, (2) performance and progress of ELL students, (3) percentage of students scoring at commended performance levels on TAKS, (4) completion
rate for 2010 graduating class, and (5) annual drop out rate for grades 7-8 during the 2009-2010 school year.”
- “All students along with students in each of four subgroups (African American, Hispanic, White, and economically disadvantaged) must meet state standards. Failure of one group to meet standard in any one indicator can lower the rating.”
Do NOT:
- Emphasize ratings (if yours are lower this year); instead accentuate increase in test scores and graduation/completion rates.
- Make negative comments about changes in the state accountability procedures.
Do:
- Make all comments positive.
- Include a quote from the superintendent.
- Use charts and graphs to show the difference in 2010 and 2011 scores.
- Use trend data to illustrate how test scores have increased in the district over the past 3-5 years and how graduation/completion rates have improved.
- Brag on commended rates and TSI higher education readiness components as being indicators of college-career readiness! [this is especially good for high performing districts where scores have topped.]
- Share strategy for future efforts to address test scores (will need to get this information from your C&I department).
- Mention strategies for moving from TAKS to STAAR.
TIPS FOR TALKING TO THE MEDIA
- Accountability reports: The media can pull the reports from the TEA website. Refer them to the link for doing so: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/
- Key message: Pick in advance two or three key messages to focus on. Keep these messages in front of you throughout the entire interview and don’t be afraid to repeat them to ensure they make it into the story/sound bite.
- Speak to what you know: Don’t respond to hypothetical situations or speak to how
other districts performed. “I can’t speak to what _____ISD is doing, but our district plans
are to…”
- I don’t know: It is OK to say, “let me take a moment to think about that,” If you need to gather your thoughts. If you don’t know an answer, don’t make up a response. NEVER say, “no comment.” Instead say, “While I don’t have that information on-hand, I’d be happy to ask our C&I director to follow up with you after we are done here.”
- Concrete examples: Use as many specific examples and statistics specific to your district as possible. Have charts prepared to show test scores from 2010 and 2011 and how scores actually improved even though ratings may have remained the same or lowered. Share “all student” scores rather than scores from each of the subgroups.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The following is background information to help you understand the specifics of the accountability system. Please do not use this information as talking points, but rather to gain a greater perspective of the complexity of the state accountability system.
About 2011 Accountability:
- This is the 8th year of the current system.
- There are several significant differences between 2010 and 2011 (see below).
- This year there are 40 indicators that determine ratings.
- More students are passing the TAKS tests and graduating from high school than eight years ago.
Once your C&I department has analyzed the reports (and most have been doing this since May), have them tell you if dropped ratings or lowered test scores are the result of any of the changes made to the 2011 accountability standards. The 2011 changes are listed below as a reference. Only reference the changed that have affected your district and campus ratings/scores.
New to the accountability system
1. Use of TPM (Texas Projection Measure) discontinued.
a. Formula was implemented in 2009
b. Formula calculated student performance on future tests based on a campus-wide average that boosted ratings statewide
c. TPM allowed for artificial measures of student performance based on a calculated prediction rather than how students actually performed
2. Number of base indicators has increased from 35 to 40 (four new measures for commended performance and one new measure for ELL students)
3. Two new base indicators
a. Commended performance to include economically disadvantaged and all students for being recognized and exemplary (15% for recognized and 25% for exemplary)
b. ELL (English Language Learners) progress (60% for recognized and exemplary)
4. New federally-mandated definitions for race and ethnicity are being used to determine student subgroups
5. TAKS indicator now includes TAKS-M and TAKS-ALT for all grades and subjects (only TAKS Accommodated was used in 2010)
6. The completion rate methodology has changed, (resulting in more high schools receiving a completion rating) [NOTE: some schools may not have had the number of students necessary to calculate this in 2010]
7. TAKS indicator standards for academically acceptable increased for math and science five points each
Math: 60% (2010) 65% (2011)
Science: 55% (2010) 60% (2011)
8. Standard for the annual dropout rate (grades 7-8) decreased from 1.8% to 1.6%
9. Standard for underreported students changed from 4% to 3%
10. Standard for Gold Performance Acknowledgments (GPA) increased to include TAKS-M and TAKS-Alt performance (TAKS-A included in 2010)
11. The college-ready graduates indicator increased from 35% to 40%
About the STAAR Test
- Due to the implementation of a new testing system, there will be no district or campus ratings in 2011-2012
- STAAR will be a more rigorous testing program than the TAKS
- The 2010-2011 school year marks the last full year of TAKS testing. Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, students in grades 3-9 will take the new State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) examinations
- Students currently in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades will continue to take the TAKS to meet graduation requirements
- Subsequent classes must pass STAAR end-of-course exams to fulfill graduation requirements. (there was great discussion about this in the 82nd legislative session, but the standard remained)
- College readiness standards will be incorporated into the system in 2014
