19 TAC §97.1002
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) adopts an amendment to §97.1002,
concerning school district accountability ratings and acknowledgments, without
changes to the proposed text as published in the April 19, 2002, issue of
the
Texas Register
(27 TexReg 3298) and will
not be republished. The section adopts by reference the most current version
of part 1 of the annual accountability manual, which specifies the indicators,
standards, and procedures used by the commissioner of education to determine
standard accountability ratings and to determine Gold Performance Acknowledgment
on additional indicators for Texas public school districts and campuses, as
authorized by Texas Education Code (TEC), §§39.051(c)-(e), 39.0721,
39.073, 39.074(a)-(b), and 39.075. Part 1 of the annual accountability manual
also specifies procedures for submitting an appeal and system safeguard analyses
used to assess the integrity of the accountability system.
Legal counsel with the TEA recommended that the procedures for issuing
regular accountability ratings for public school districts and campuses be
adopted as part of the
Texas Administrative Code
. This decision was made in 2000 given a court decision challenging
state agency decision making via administrative letter/publications. Given
the statewide application of the accountability rating process and the existence
of sufficient statutory authority for the commissioner of education to formally
adopt rules in this area, portions of each annual accountability manual have
been adopted since 2000. The intention is to annually update the rule to refer
to the most recently published accountability manual.
The adopted amendment updates the section to adopt by reference
Part 1
of the
2002 Accountability Manual
,
dated April 2002, for school year 2001-2002. The accountability system evolves
from year to year so the criteria and standards for rating and acknowledging
schools in 2002 differ to some degree over those applied in 2001. In 2002,
the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) standards for reading, writing,
and mathematics will be increased for the
Academically
Acceptable / Acceptable
rating to 55.0% passing for "all students"
and each student group. The standards for
Exemplary
and
Recognized
remain the same. Also,
TAAS standards for 8th grade social studies will be implemented. The Exemplary
and
Recognized
standards are the same for social studies as the standards for reading,
writing, and mathematics. However, the standard for
Academically Acceptable / Acceptable
will be 50.0% at the "all students"
level; student groups will not be evaluated this year for social studies.
The dropout rate standards also changed for a
Recognized
rating from 3.0% to 2.5% and for an
Academically
Acceptable / Acceptable
rating from 5.5% to 5.0%. In addition, the
Gold Performance Acknowledgement (GPA) system replaces the Additional Acknowledgments
system. All of the previous Additional Acknowledgment indicators are part
of the GPA, although the standards for acknowledgment may have changed. In
2002, the GPA system will be awarded to districts and campuses rated Academically Acceptable
or
Acceptable
or higher on nine measures: Attendance Rate for Grades 1-12;
Campus Comparable Improvement in Mathematics and Reading; Algebra I End-of-Course
Examination Results; Advanced Academic Course Completion; Advanced Placement
/ International Baccalaureate Examination Results; College Admissions Test
Results; TAAS/TASP Equivalency; and Recommended High School Program Participation.
This year, ratings and acknowledgments are scheduled to be released in August
2002.
No comments were received regarding adoption of the amendment.
The amendment is adopted under the Texas Education Code, §§39.051(c)-(e),
39.0721, 39.073, 39.074(a)-(b), and 39.075, which authorize the commissioner
of education to specify the indicators, standards, and procedures used to
determine standard accountability ratings and to determine acknowledgment
on additional indicators.
This agency hereby certifies that the adoption has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be a valid exercise of the agency's legal authority.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State on May 24, 2002.
TRD-200203230
Cristina De La Fuente-Valadez
Manager, Policy Planning
Texas Education Agency
Effective date: June 13, 2002
Proposal publication date: April 19, 2002
For further information, please call: (512) 463-9701