Removal of TPM hurts accountability ratings statewide

By BY JOE GULICK

AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

The removal of the Texas Performance Measure (TPM) from the adjustment of student assessment test scores was felt not just locally but across the state, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Significantly lower accountability ratings were given statewide to districts and campuses this year, compared to last year, according to a TEA report.
The TPM, which was used in figuring 2009 and 2010 accountability ratings, boosted Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores by giving failing students credit for passing if their scores were improving enough to be projected as passing in the future.
But that was not the only factor listed by the TEA regarding the lower ratings in Texas this year.
Among other changes noted by the TEA to the accountability system in 2011 were the inclusion of 119,000 special education students in assessments, a stricter commended performance indicator and an increased standard for an academically acceptable rating.
Accountability ratings are based on TAKS tests given to students in the spring semester.
The four possible accountability ratings, from highest to lowest, are exemplary, recognized, acceptable and unacceptable.
The number of exemplary school districts statewide dropped from 241 in 2010 to 61 this year.
Lubbock County had three of the districts moving from an exemplary rating to a recognized rating in 2011 — the Lubbock-Cooper, Roosevelt and Shallowater independent school districts.
Superintendents Pat Henderson of Lubbock-Cooper and Jimmy Parker of Roosevelt said the removal of the TPM was a factor in the lower ratings for their districts.
Henderson called TPM “a false security blanket” and said he was glad the state got rid of it, even though it meant Lubbock-Cooper lost its exemplary rating.
Texas also had fewer recognized districts in 2011, with the second-highest rating declining from 607 districts in 2010 to 422 this year.
Texas had 342 districts rated as acceptable last year, and the number grew to 655 districts this year, according to the TEA.
Regarding the lowest rating, the number of Texas districts rated as unacceptable increased from 37 in 2010 to 88 this year.
One of them was the Big Spring ISD, in which seven of the eight school campuses in the district were unacceptable, and one was acceptable.
The Ector County ISD received a districtwide acceptable rating this year, but three ECISD schools were listed as unacceptable, where none had received the lowest rating last year. Superintendent Hector Mendez blames the removal of the TPM for the decline.
TPM was eliminated because of public opposition to it, including a unanimous vote on House Bill 500 against further use of test score projections, according to the TEA report.
Among individual school campuses statewide, the number of exemplary ratings declined from 2,637 in 2010 to 1,224 this year. Recognized campuses in the state went from 3,160 in 2010 to 2,825 this year.
Texas school districts had 1,884 campuses rated acceptable in 2010 and 3,285 acceptable campuses in 2011. The number of statewide campuses rated as unacceptable increased more than five times in 2011, from 104 schools in 2010 to 569 schools this year.
Eight of those unacceptable campuses were in the Lubbock ISD.
The only LISD school ranked as unacceptable in 2010 was Estacado High School. This year, the LISD unacceptable campuses were Estacado, Coronado and Monterey high schools, Alderson, Atkins and O.L. Slaton middle schools and Hodges and Parkway elementary schools.
According to the TEA, the most common reason Texas districts and campuses were rated as unacceptable in 2011 was poor math scores on TAKS tests. The second most common reason was a combination of poor math and science scores.
That was the case with Coronado, Estacado and Monterey high schools, particularly in math, according to Nancy Sharp, the LISD director of communications and community relations.
In 21 areas measured, Coronado High School met or exceeded accountability standards, but the school fell short in three student groups in the math subject area, giving the school an unacceptable rating.
With 1,499 Coronado students taking math tests in grades nine through 11, the school missed the acceptable standard by 17 students in the black student group, 29 students in the Hispanic student group and 61 students in the economically disadvantaged student group, according to Sharp.
Estacado High School fell short of the acceptable standard in math by 46 students in the black student group, 13 students in the Hispanic group and 68 students in the economically disadvantaged group.
Monterey High School failed to reach the acceptable rating in math by 23 students in the black group, 62 students in the Hispanic student group and 96 students in the economically disadvantaged group. Monterey missed an acceptable rating in science by 15 students in the black student group.