This Week in Performance Reporting

Good afternoon, Performance Reporting bulletin members.

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What’s New in Performance Reporting

A–F Accountability

Alternative education accountability (AEA) provisions are intended for alternative education campuses (AECs) that offer nontraditional settings and methods of instructional delivery designed to meet the needs of at-risk students. These campuses must serve large populations of students at risk of dropping out of school as defined in TEC §29.081(d) and provide accelerated instructional services to these students.

Campuses must meet thirteen AEA eligibility criteria to register. Criteria 8–13 may not apply to charter school campuses depending on the terms of the charter.

1. The AEC must have its own county-district-campus number for which PEIMS data are submitted and test answer documents are coded. A program operated within or supported by another campus does not qualify.
2. The AEC must have its own county-district-campus number on PEIMS October snapshot day (October 29, 2021).
3. The AEC must be identified in AskTED (Texas Education Directory database) as an alternative instructional campus. This is a self-designation that districts and charter schools request via AskTED.
4. The AEC must be dedicated to serving students at risk of dropping out of school as defined in TEC §29.081(d). Each AEC must have at least 75 percent at-risk student enrollment verified through current-year PEIMS fall enrollment data. If a previously registered AEC does not meet the current year at-risk criterion, it remains eligible for AEA if it met the at-risk criterion in the prior year.
5. At least 90 percent of students at the AEC must be enrolled in grades 6–12 verified through current-year PEIMS fall enrollment data.
6. The AEC must operate on its own campus budget.
7. The AEC must offer nontraditional settings and methods of instructional delivery designed to meet the needs of the students served on the AEC.
8. The AEC cannot be the only middle school or high school listed for its district in AskTED.
9. The AEC must have an appropriately certified, full-time administrator whose primary duty is the administration of the AEC.
10. The AEC must have appropriately certified teachers assigned in all areas including special education, bilingual education, and/or English as a second language (ESL) to serve students eligible for such services.
11. The AEC must provide each student the opportunity to attend a 75,600-minute school year as defined in TEC §25.081(a), according to the needs of each student.
12. If the campus has students served by special education, the students must be placed at the AEC by their Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee. If the campus is a residential facility, the students must have been placed in the facility by the district.
13. Students served by special education must receive all services outlined in their current individualized education programs (IEPs). English learners (EL) must receive all services outlined by the language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC). Students served by special education or language programs must be served by appropriately certified teachers.

AEA registration for 2022 will occur in late March. The following types of campuses may be registered for evaluation by 2022 AEA provisions:

• Dropout recovery school (DRS) – Education services are targeted to dropout prevention and recovery of students in grades 9–12, with enrollment consisting of at least 60 percent of the students 16 years of age or older as of September 1, 2021, as reported for the fall semester PEIMS submission.
  • In spring 2022, alternative campuses that meet the DRS definition will be automatically registered under AEA and identified as a DRS.
  • Districts may choose to remove a DRS from evaluation under AEA procedures by submitting a rescission form.
• Dropout prevention school (DPS) – Education services are targeted to dropout prevention for students in grades 6–12 to expedite progress toward performing on grade level and high school completion. The AEC may offer a specialized program for an exceptional population. These campuses were previously labeled AECs of Choice.
  • Campuses that meet AEA criteria, but not DRS criteria, will be notified prior to the AEA registration window.
  • If an eligible campus would like to apply to register under AEA as a DPS, the district will submit a DPS application during the AEA window. The application must describe the alternative program and provide data to support a discretionary DPS identification.

As a reminder, residential treatment facilities (RTFs) are not rated under academic accountability. If an RTF meets AEA eligibility, it will be registered; however, AEA registration is not a requirement to receive the Not Rated label.

Local Accountability System

The 2021 Notice of Interest for districts wishing to participate in the local accountability system is now available. The completed form is available online and districts submitting after the stated deadline of October 15 will be contacted as space permits. Participating districts may wish to develop a plan during the 2021–22 school year that is then applied to the 2022–23 school year. The Local Accountability System team remains committed to supporting districts in creating a plan that meets all requirements and supports a model of local accountability.

The Local Accountability Guide and Frequently Asked Questions provide information about plan requirements and example components. Both documents can be found on the local accountability webpage.

Districts wishing to learn more about the local accountability system and how to develop a district local accountability plan can participate in a 45-minute overview webinar with time for Q & A.

Registration links are available for upcoming webinar dates in October and November. The timeline for districts wishing to develop a local accountability plan is posted on our webpage along with the Notice of Interest.

Wednesday, November 3 at 3 pm

Monday, November 8 at 2 pm

Thursday, November 18 at 10 am

Tuesday, November 30 at 3 pm

Assessment Scoring and Reporting

The student registration window for the December 2021 STAAR EOC administration closed on September 29, 2021. The number of students registered in the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) with test format set to paper and specific test attribute values selected before the last day of the initial order window will be used to determine the quantity of paper test materials delivered in a district's shipment. The number of test administrator manuals delivered will be based on the total number of December STAAR registrations (online and paper). Refer to the TIDE User Guide for information on how to register students and submit test attribute information in TIDE.

• All Testers—all students eligible to participate in the December 2021 STAAR administration must be registered in TIDE regardless of whether they are first-time testers or re-testers.

• First-Time Testers—districts or campuses must mark STAAR EOC eligibility fields as yes, “Y”, for applicable courses.

• Re-testers—districts or campuses must mark STAAR EOC eligibility fields as yes, “Y”, for applicable courses to contribute to the calculation of test administrator manuals needed. If eligibility information is not included for these students, beginning October 4, 2021, until November 1, 2021, Cambium will populate the STAAR EOC eligibility field and re-tester flag based on the information received from the previous vendor. Cambium will modify student information included only in the re-tester file. After November 1, 2021, districts and campuses may review re-tester student information to verify updates as appropriate.

Districts can now request historical scoring reports for students using the file upload process in TIDE. Superintendents, district testing coordinators, or district testing assistants can make these requests. Currently, historical records are available for students who took STAAR in grades 3–8. For STAAR EOC assessments, historical data are available for 2016‒2021. Historical records for STAAR Alternate 2, Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), and TELPAS Alternate will be available in October 2021. For instructions on how to request historical scoring reports for students, refer to the Student Data Request User Guide.

Districts must update all relevant student demographic information, including program information, that is not initially included in the student registration file in TIDE BEFORE the last day of the test administration window. Only information available in TIDE can be included in the raw data files that districts receive after each test administration and is included in the consolidated accountability file. 

Each year the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Student Assessment Division provides training to Education Service Center (ESC) testing coordinators regarding administration procedures for all components of the Texas Assessment Program. This year’s ESC training was held virtually on September 30, 2021, and the recorded presentations have been posted to the Learning Management System (LMS).

For questions about assessment registration or training, please contact Student Assessment at StudentAssessment@tea.texas.gov or (512) 463-9536. For questions or help with accessing and interpreting STAAR results, districts and parents can email assessment.reporting@tea.texas.gov or call (512) 463-9704.

Extra and Co-Curricular Project

The Extra and Co-Curricular (ECC) project was enacted by the 85th Texas Legislature to study the feasibility of incorporating student participation in ECC activities as part of the campus and district performance evaluation process. The ECC Advisory Committee, comprised of more than 30 district, community, and organizational representatives from across the state, was established to review existing research and explore options. Since fall 2019, the committee has developed an initial list of possible indicators and gathered limited data from the 2019–20 and 2020–21 school years. Studying ECC participation is a first step to better understanding current levels of access, expanding definitions of student performance, and increasing awareness of the impact of ECC activities on student development.

As schools are returning to more typical levels of operation this year, the ECC committee is seeking additional districts to participate in a voluntary collection of student extra and co-curricular data during the 2021–22 school. Resources are available to assist districts with the data collection process, or districts may use their own systems. Gathering data from an increased number of districts representing a range of district types helps ensure the data collected provide an accurate picture of student participation across the state.

For more information, the ECC Invitation to Districts and ECC Data Collection Overview provide brief summaries of the project scope and timeline, including district time requirements. For additional questions, including available resources and how to get started, please contact Linda Johnson, ECC Project Coordinator. Districts interested in participating in the 2021-22 ECC Project are encouraged to notify Linda Johnson by December 1, 2021.

Did You Know?

Performance Reporting resurrected the Texas Performance Reporting System (TPRS) this week. This comprehensive and dynamic reporting system resembles and replaces the Texas Academic Performance Report System and includes an option to download data in Excel or PDF and an easy print option.

Performance Reporting Calendar

Mid-November: Preliminary TAPR PDF released

December: Additional remote vs. in-person STAAR data released in TEAL ACCT 

By December 15: Districts submit the 2021 alternative evaluation request for eligible campuses in TEAL ACCT

By December 15: Districts upload an appeal of the 2021 count of consecutive school years of unacceptable performance in TEAL ACCT (if applicable)

January: Additional remote vs. in-person STAAR data released in TPRS

January 14, 2022: TEA publishes Acceptable ratings for campuses that met the SB 1365 eligibility criteria as well as the evaluation criteria adopted in TAC, §97.1006 and opted into the alternative evaluation. Appeals of the count of consecutive school years of unacceptable performance finalized.

Mid-January: Final TAPR PDF released (with updated rating for Acceptable campuses)