This Week in Performance Reporting: June 21, 2019

Good afternoon, Performance Reporting bulletin members.

Welcome to this week’s update. 

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What’s New in Performance Reporting

Use of Substitute Assessments in Accountability

As was shared in the June 20th To the Administrator Addressed correspondence, Performance Reporting will no longer include the results of substitute assessments in accountability beginning with the December 2019 STAAR EOC administration. Substitute assessments may continue to be used to meet individual student graduation requirements. The agency is working on additional guidance and FAQs for districts regarding the impact this change has on federal participation requirements.

A–F Accountability

In order to align letter grades and scores used in the A–F academic accountability system to the common conception of letter grades, raw domain and component scores are adjusted, or “scaled.”

Performance Reporting has an online scaling tool to assist with the conversion of raw domain and component scores to scaled scores. Please note, the graduation rate component does not use the scaling process. This component is scaled using a conversion table provided in the scaling tool. The methodology and formulas for scaling domains and components are provided in Chapter 5 of the 2019 Accountability Manual.

Campus Comparison Groups

The 2019 Campus Comparison Group reports are now available on the 2019 Accountability Rating System webpage. Campus comparison groups are used to award distinction designations, which will be publicly available on August 15, 2019. Distinction designations are awarded for achievement in several areas and are based on performance relative to the campus comparison group.

For questions about the 2019 accountability system, please contact Performance Reporting at performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov  or (512) 463-9704.

Local Accountability System

Please see the timeline below for important dates for districts considering participation in LAS 2019–20. Additional information is also available on the LAS website.

• 9/2/19                            Notification of Interest (NOI) due to TEA
• 9/3/19–9/30/19         District LAS trainings at TEA (required for new districts)
• 11/1/19                          Final 2019–20 LAS plans due to TEA

Have a question or comment about the local accountability system? Drop us a line at LAS@tea.texas.gov or call (512) 463-9704.

Assessment Scoring and Reporting

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for updated assessment data to be included in the consolidated accountability file (CAF), all allowable changes, such as corrections to student ID information, score code changes, and requests for rescoring of essays, must be submitted to ETS Texas Assessment Support Center by June 24, 2019.

Note: The English Learner Performance Measure (EL PM) fields on the student level data files have been populated based on results from the preliminary spring 2019 TELPAS data. Updates made by districts during the TELPAS data correction window will be processed and any possible changes will be reflected in the next regular monthly update in July.

Raw score to scale score conversion tables are posted here. 

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.

This Week’s FAQ

How are the STAAR grades 5 and 8 results for students with Student Success Initiative (SSI) requirements included in accountability calculations?

For students in grades 5 and 8, accountability calculations include assessment results for reading and mathematics from the first administration and first retest administration of all STAAR versions. The second retest administration in June 2019 is not used.

For students in grades 5 and 8, the STAAR reading and mathematics assessment results from the first and second administration (first retest opportunity) are processed in two steps. First, the best result from both administrations is found for each subject. The best result is found for performance and progress, considered separately. If all results have the same level of performance, then the most recent result is selected for calculation. Second, the accountability subset rules determine whether the result is included in accountability.

Accountability Summer Learning Webinars

Performance Reporting is pleased to offer a summer learning webinar series. These presentations will provide an explanation of each domain within the accountability system and an understanding of how performance data is used to generate a rating for campuses and districts. These webinars are designed for audiences who are not familiar with the accountability rating system or need training on the most crucial components within the system.

All webinars are offered through Zoom, a free video conference service. Additional webinars will be announced throughout the summer. You can sign up using a Zoom, Google, or Facebook login. If you don't have an account, you can sign up for free.

Accountability Summer Learning Webinar Dates

Understanding the School Progress Domain—July 10, 2019 at 1:00 pm 

Understanding the Closing the Gaps Domain—August 7, 2019 at 1:00 pm 

Understanding the Student Achievement Domain recording—June 12, 2019 

Employment Opportunities in Performance Reporting

The Performance Reporting Division is looking for someone to join our team. Interested and qualified candidates can apply for the following position at https://capps.taleo.net/careersection/701/jobdetail.ftl?job=00005775&tz=GMT-05:00&tzname=

Programmer IV

The person chosen to fill this position will perform highly complex SAS and computer programming work, develop web applications for reporting, and create and maintain data marts. This role is critical to helping TEA increase transparency, fairness, and rigor in district and campus academic and financial performance.

Performance Reporting Calendar

Late-June—Final 2019 CCMR Student Listing released (TEAL)

August 7—2019 preliminary performance domain tables without rating labels released (TEAL)

August 14—2019 preliminary accountability tables with rating labels and distinction designations released (TEAL)

August 15—2019 preliminary accountability tables with rating labels and distinction designations released (public web)

August 15—Campuses identified under PEG criteria for 2020–21 school year released (public web)

August 14–September 13—2019 appeals application available to districts (TEAL)

September 13—2019 accountability appeals window closes

Contact Information
Texas Education Agency
Performance Reporting Division
(512) 463-9704
performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov