Latest news with #TexasAssessmentsofAcademicReadiness
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
After two year pause, Texas Education Agency releases 2023 A-F accountability scores
The Texas Education Agency on Thursday morning released two-year-old academic accountability scores for school districts and campuses statewide after an appeals court lifted a temporary block on the release of performance ratings earlier this month. Due to several pandemic-related exemptions, the data the TEA released Thursday is the first time since 2019 that families across the state have access to a complete suite of information detailing how the state is grading campuses and districts. It is also the first glimpse into the results of the state's 2023 refresh to the accountability system's rubric. Seventy-three percent of campuses received a passing accountability rating in 2023, compared with 87% in 2022, according to the TEA data. The agency rates districts and campuses on an A-F letter grade scale, in which a C or higher is passing, or at least a 70 out of 100. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told reporters in a call that if the updated 2023 rubric had been applied to the 2022 accountability scores, about 85% of campuses would have passed. The 2023 scores also show a dip in campuses that passed compared with 2019 when 82% of schools received an A, B or C. Morath said the 2022 scores had been unusual because students showed unusual levels of growth — one of the factors on which students and campuses are graded — upon exiting the pandemic. Students didn't show the same levels of growth in 2023, he said. 'That is not inherently because of the refresh," Morath said. 'That is because academic growth for students was way down.' The new grading system also gives less weight to high schools than previous performance measures, he said. The A-F accountability ratings score campuses on how students perform on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test, their growth or performance relative to other similar schools, college and career readiness, and the performance of certain high-needs student groups. Comprehensive A-F scores haven't been released publicly since 2019. The state didn't score schools and districts in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and it exempted the lowest scoring schools from ratings in 2022. In 2023, the TEA rolled out a newly designed version of the STAAR test, which students in grades three through eight and high school students take. The new test features an online format, more short written responses and reading passages that reference information students should have learned in their classes. Although the test was administered in 2023, the state has been blocked from releasing its accountability ratings due to it updating its measuring system. A group of about 100 districts sued the TEA in 2023, accusing the agency of unfairly recalibrating the rubric, delaying communication of changes, and alleging that the adjustments would result in lower scores. A smaller group of districts filed a similar suit in 2024. Earlier this month, the state's 15th Court of Appeals — created in 2023 by the Texas Legislature — ordered the TEA to release the 2023 scores, but the 2024 ratings are still blocked from becoming public. 'That's not all that helpful for a family trying to make a decision in the summer of 2024, and so unfortunately, parents have been denied access to this benefit for a long time now,' Morath said in the call. If districts had been scored using the new 2023 system in 2022, about 58% of the total 1,188 public school districts in Texas would have maintained the same score, 14% would have increased their scores and 29% would have seen their scores go down, according to TEA data. In response to the lawsuits, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, has filed Senate Bill 1962, which would allow the state to appoint oversight over districts that use public money to sue the TEA over accountability measures. The Texas Senate on April 16 approved Bettencourt's proposal by a 20-11 vote. The measure has been assigned to the House Public Education Committee but it has not yet been scheduled for a hearing. The release of the TEA scores coincides with the Austin district weighing options for Dobie Middle School, which administrators project will receive a fourth consecutive F rating this year. If the school receives five Fs consecutively, the state is required by law to either close the school or take over the entire district. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Education Agency releases 2023 A-F accountability scores
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Key to greatness': Fort Worth ISD teaches parents how to engage with student literacy
Literacy coordinator Monique Ervin explained the link between family time and learning time to a Fort Worth Independent School District parent, who listened intently as she learned techniques to help her daughter improve her early reading skills at home. The parent, Arlene Olvera, asked Ervin specifically for help with her kindergarten-age daughter's blending, or merging individual sounds of a word together to read it. It's an important literacy skill that Olvera's daughter has been experiencing trouble with lately, even though the child knows the letter sounds themselves. Ervin showed Olvera a lesson specific to blending that Olvera could use at home with her daughter through Lexia, an online reading program utilized by the district. 'I didn't know that I could log into her Lexia and have that scripted for me to, basically, me be the teacher. And she'll just be already familiar with it,' Olvera told the Star-Telegram. 'Right now, she's not (reading on grade level), but she does have learning disabilities. So that does play a factor. We're being proactive, and we're getting her the help that she needs through the school district.' Olvera was among a group of parents who attended the district's family literacy conference on Saturday, April 12, where educators hosted more than 20 workshops at O.D. Wyatt High School for parents to learn how they can both contribute to — and track — their child's reading progress across all grade levels. Staff also helped parents with enrollment for the upcoming school year, distributed free backpacks and books, and provided interactive activities. Superintendent Karen Molinar gave a presentation — translated into Spanish by a bilingual staff member — at the beginning of the conference to reiterate the district's ongoing literacy plan to boost student achievement, which was 'We know that literacy is the key to greatness. For whatever we want to do in life, we have to be able to read,' Molinar said. 'We really need your help and support at home by making sure … that their homework is done, that you check their grades (and) their attendance. Read with them and have them review, but then, more importantly, ask them about school each day.' The family literacy conference is part of an effort as the district is strategizing and working to turn around its stagnant reading and test scores. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker called attention to Fort Worth ISD's shortcomings, compared to other urban school districts across Texas, at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. The calls and proposals for change have gained momentum ever since. The school board approved a strategic plan in January, including a goal to have half of Fort Worth ISD third-graders performing on grade level in reading and math by 2029. There were 33% of Fort Worth ISD students who scored on grade level in reading on last year's STAAR — or State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness — exam. This percentage has been virtually unchanged for at least a decade. The Fort Worth ISD school board also passed a resolution in January to name literacy as the district's highest priority. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court passed a resolution in February imploring all other Tarrant school districts to follow suit. A Fort Worth political action committee, Fort Worth Students First, announced its launch on April 4 with a mission of informing candidates for local elected offices about the value of literacy and why it should be at the top of their priorities, no matter what office they're running for. On Saturday, Molinar broke down the reading framework of how teachers are rolling out reading instruction for the 2025-2026 school year. Middle-schoolers will receive 90 minutes of reading instruction, and elementary students 120 minutes, a day. All students will get a foundational reading lesson, then they will demonstrate how much of the lesson they retained. Afterward, students will hone the lesson further through enrichment, or relearn the lesson through small-group tutoring. This framework is one of five approaches to the district's literacy plan. The other approaches include aligning the district's budget toward literacy, aligning instructional resources, screening and monitoring students' literacy performance and professional development for educators. 'Every campus will have a literacy lab classroom set up with a demonstration teacher that will be the master and model teacher on that campus. So the teacher needs help with instruction or how to deliver a lesson, or just needs to see how someone else on that campus is delivering that instruction, they're able to walk down the hallway and watch it happening with students from their school,' Molinar said. After Molinar spoke to attendees in the high school's auditorium on Saturday, parents migrated to classrooms based on what workshops they wanted to listen to. Ervin, the literacy coordinator, shared four tips with parents on how to approach reading at home: Have conversations with children about the book being read; break words into smaller pieces; identify speech sounds; and model reading fluency. Asking open-ended questions about a book allows them to practice predicting, problem solving, comparing and contrasting, she said. Taking turns while reading passages, or reading them at the same time, shows the child how to read aloud with the correct pace and tone. 'You are your child's first teacher. The parent is the child's first teacher, just reading with them at home,' Ervin said. 'Provide feedback on the proper tone, pausing and which words to emphasize, especially if you have a question mark or an exclamation point. That's going to help you with comprehension.' In classroom 1522, M.H. Moore Elementary Assistant Principal John Moore shared additional suggestions for parents and explained what reading milestones look like for elementary age groups. As students reach second grade, they're becoming proficient readers who ideally can transition into independent reading and read longer books, he said. 'Starting in second grade, kids start to develop their personality for reading: 'I like these books. I don't like those kinds of books,'' he said. 'Push them into the books they like, so they still keep that reading right there.' Bakul Patel, a Carter Park Elementary parent with a son in pre-K and a daughter in third grade, asked Reed how his children could build more confidence around reading. Reed said students in pre-K, kindergarten and first grade can be shy about making errors, especially when reading aloud, but assuring them that mistakes are okay will grow their confidence to keep trying. 'The confidence comes from knowing that we're going to make mistakes in reading, and it's okay,' Reed said. 'Words are crazy: 'ough' says 15 different sounds. You won't get them all right every time, it takes practice. So if you start (in) lower grades, reading out loud and having them practice, even if they have mistakes, it's going to help them later on to be okay making mistakes.' Patel told the Star-Telegram that since moving to Fort Worth ISD from the Huntsville area north of Houston, he noticed a gap in the curriculum between the districts for his daughter. Patel has placed her at a local Kumon math and reading center for extra tutoring outside of school, which has helped her. He's considering moving his children to a charter school next school year after he gets this year's STAAR results back. 'I had one question I asked a staff member. What's the difference between ISD and charter school? Because why should I keep my kids in ISD? I never tried charter school, but I (saw IDEA Public Schools). They look much better from outside,' Patel said. 'I guess I'm still learning Fort Worth ISD.'
CBS News
08-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
STAAR testing begins for students across Texas
April 8 kicks off the first round of STAAR testing across Texas. STAAR stands for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. It's a state testing program that has been in place for about 15 years. The standardized test measures how much students have learned that grade year and they must pass before moving to the next grade level. Seniors must pass before graduating. On April 8, reading, language arts, and English 1 and 2 tests will be administered. As students get ready for the exams, Dallas ISD has some tips to help them succeed: Fort Worth ISD, one of the largest districts in the state, has some of the lowest STAAR testing results , according to a recent report. City leaders said that more than half of Tarrant County students are not reading at grade level. Based on a recent report, grades 6, 7 and 8 last year in middle school literacy scored more than 20% below the state average. Numbers also showed Fort Worth ISD is 12% behind Dallas ISD in all subjects from 2024 results. This led Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker in a rare move to address the school board back in the fall semester and make some changes. Parker and other community leaders launched an education advocacy group called Fort Worth Students First , which prioritizes literacy in their public schools. There are also some changes to teaching roles this upcoming school year in Fort Worth ISD with an approach to zero in on bettering their STAAR results.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Here's how some Texas schools are making academic improvements, according to new study
Although Central Texas students may still be facing academic obstacles in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic, a new education research analysis by children's advocacy nonprofit Children at Risk revealed signs of improvement in many Austin-area schools. The group's analysis, published Wednesday, however, found that schools in Central Texas could and should be doing more to improve outcomes for economically disadvantaged children, whose academic performance was more affected by disruptions to in-person learning caused by the pandemic compared with students from higher income backgrounds. The nonprofit ranked most schools in Central Texas that serve the highest proportion of economically disadvantaged students fairly low on scales measuring student growth, which evaluate if student scores improved on state tests, and on campus performance, which indicates how the school scored on tests compared with schools that have similar demographics. Despite this concern, the nonprofit awarded 50% more schools with Gold Ribbon status, a designation for campuses serving low-income students that are out-performing their peer schools. That's a good sign of academics trending in the right direction, said Robert Sanborn, president and CEO of Children at Risk, a public policy nonprofit focused on Texas children's issues. Although school administrators still must provide more supports to help students improve their academic outcomes, the progression is faring better, Sanborn said. 'Overall, right after the pandemic, we saw this sharp decline,' Sanborn said. 'It was exasperated by the state not increasing public school funding for two legislative sessions.' In the time since, however, many school districts have implemented initiatives to help students recover from learning gaps created in the pandemic, such as high-quality prekindergarten programs. Student outcomes also showed improvement in schools where superintendents and principals changed their teaching methods to meet students' changed learning needs, he said. 'It's not business as usual with the Texas student body,' Sanborn said. 'The things that those principals do that makes a difference is creating this cutlure of high expectations.' Children at Risk grades campuses based on how students perform on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test and on how the school performed overall compared with other campuses with students who have similar levels of poverty. The nonprofit also factors in students' growth on the STAAR test and, for high schools, students' college readiness. "Schools across every region of Texas are showing improvement, particularly among middle and high schools, with college readiness seeing the most progress," said Nadia Salibi, chief impact officer. Children at Risk also awards high-performing campuses that consist of at least 75% economically disadvantaged students with a Gold Ribbon status. More than 62% of Texas students were economically disadvantaged in the 2023-24 school year, a slight increase of 0.5% from the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency. Locally, Children at Risk designated seven elementary campuses as Gold Ribbon Schools. The elementary schools awarded Gold Ribbon status were Guerrero Thompson in Austin, Smith in Del Valle, Patlan in Seguin, Newton Collins in Del Valle, Copperfield in Pflugerville, Rodriguez in Austin and Oralia R. Rodriguez in Seguin. Last year, Smith Elementary School in the Del Valle district was the only campus to be named a Gold Ribbon School in Central Texas. Only 17% of low-income schools meet the Gold Ribbon status, Salibi said, adding "There is still more work to do." While the increase in Gold Ribbon Schools is positive, more needs to be done to help economically disadvantaged students recover from pandemic-related disruptions, said Christine Thomas, senior associate director of the Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation at Children at Risk. 'It's a move in the right direction, but Central Texas is lacking in that department,' Thomas said. Overall, Sanborn would give the state an average rating in terms of educating students, he said. 'We have some great schools,' Sanborn said. 'We have some horrible schools, but when you look at all the schools, you get a C.' The Children at Risk data comes two weeks after the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly known as the Nation's Report Card, rang alarm bells for children's reading scores around the country. Despite some improvements in post-pandemic math performance, experts at that National Center for Education Statistics expressed concern for students' struggles in reading. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Nonprofit's school rankings signal some improvements for Texas schools
