January 6, 2017 - The Texas Education Agency (TEA) today released their A-F work-in-progress report which was recently presented to the Texas Legislature. The report is a work-in-progress due to an upcoming change in the Texas school accountability system which will not be in full effect until 2018. The results are disturbing to local school superintendents who do not want the community to misinterpret the report as being an accurate score of the school district's performance. It is not.
Statement of Commissioner Morath regarding public release of A-F work-in-progress report
AUSTIN – The 84th Legislature passed House Bill 2804, changing the Texas school accountability system so that every campus and district receives one of five ratings from A-F. The ratings will be issued for the first time in August 2018.
The law requires the Texas Education Agency to present a preliminary work-in-progress report noting potential grades by domain to be issued to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2017. That report, which was sent to legislative members last week, is now publicly available. Commissioner of Education Mike Morath issued the following statement regarding this report:
“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.
The ratings in this report 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.”
Shelby County school superintendents plus San Augustine ISD's superintendent gathered at the Center ISD administration office to discuss the results of the report on Friday, January 6th. James Hockenberry spoke about the press release from Commissioner Morath, "We have sat here and visited for the last hour or so and we've had a few days to process all this information that is coming out. I think what we have concluded is that the commissioner has done a fine job in his press release. We were unaware that he would make that kind of a statement but his statement is accurate, it's spot on, and it's important to recognize the words that he has spoken today as he released these provisional ratings on a system that by all indications will change dramatically as it goes into full effect with the 2017-2018 school year. I think we all agree and we stand behind his statement and understand that all of this is going to change and we'll closely monitor the situation as it evolves in the legislative sessions in place, see where it lands us when it goes into full effect."
Hockenberry finished by saying, "As superintendent of schools for Center ISD, obviously I can't speak on behalf of the other school districts, but as people get to view the rating and read the statement from Commissioner Morath, I encourage anybody that wants to come visit our schools to come visit. We welcome you any day, any time, into any classroom and see first hand what we're doing."
The final 2016 academic accountability ratings were released on November 17, 2016 and the Shelby County schools along with San Augustine each received a 'Met Standard' rating. Click the following schools to see their actual 2016 Accountability Summary: Center ISD, Excelsior ISD, Joaquin ISD, Shelbyville ISD, Tenaha ISD, Timpson ISD, and San Augustine ISD.
To learn more about the transition to a new accountability system and its implementation, visit the Texas Education Agency A-F Resources Page on the TEA website at http://tea.texas.gov/Student_Testing_and_Accountability/Accountability/A-F_Accountability_Resources/
