Texas school districts to receive provisional A-F ratings sooner than planned
As school districts go on Winter Break, the Texas Education Agency is set to on Friday, Dec. 16, release details on how the new A-F school rating system will be applied to districts and campuses. The Texas Education Agency previously announced that districts would receive their provisional scores on Jan. 4, 2017. The release has since been updated. Before 2016 comes to a close, districts will on Dec. 30 get their schools’ “what if” ratings showing provisional results — what campuses and districts would have been rated by the state had a variation of the system been in place — before it’s set to launch next school year.
The Lone Star State’s 2017-18 A-F rating system will be based on five general indicators, each of which will receive its own letter grade. In addition, an overall score will be given to each district and campus based on the individual scores of the domains. The indicators will consist of:
Student performance on state assessments (STAAR)
Student progress based on the rate of growth from one grade to the next, based on STAAR results
Narrowing achievement gaps among different student groups, based on STAAR results
Other student participation indicators, including graduation rate, dropout rate, college and career readiness and attendance
Three Community and Student Engagement indicators, ranging from fine arts to community and parental involvement, that are selected, assessed and reported by each district and school
Parents and community members want to hear specifics from school district officials on expectations for their schools’ and district’s grade and what each rating means for their child and his/her teachers. An A doesn’t translate to perfection, and an F doesn’t equal failure. Let’s share the stories in the underlying data from the rating system, tireless efforts from dedicated educators and students, and bold plans for continual improvement.