2013 Texas Education Agency Rankings Released (Dallas, Plano: 2014, school districts, calculated)

[Lakewooder]

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfre.../statelist.pdf

I see that J. L. Long Middle School and Woodrow Wilson High in Lakewood met standard made top 25% progress. Woodrow and Hillcrest had the same number of "Y"s as SEM and TAG.

[bencronin04]

It's seems like a lot of schools did as well......

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfre.../statelist.pdf

I see that J. L. Long Middle School and Woodrow Wilson High in Lakewood met standard made top 25% progress. Woodrow and Hillcrest had the same number of "Y"s as SEM and TAG.

So what does these headers mean? What are indexes 1-4?

[bencronin04]

That and to further expound on the question, what are all of these scores from? How are they calculated? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!

[Lakewooder]

From TEA site:

The 2013 ratings are based on a revised system that uses various indicators to provide greater detail on the performance of a district or charter and each individual campus throughout the state. The performance index framework includes four areas:
•Student Achievement - Represents a snapshot of performance across all subjects, on both general and alternative assessments, at an established performance standard.
(All Students)
•Student Progress - Provides an opportunity for diverse campuses to show improvements made independent of overall achievement levels. Growth is evaluated by subject and student group.
(All Students; Student Groups by Race/Ethnicity; English Language Learners; Special Education)
•Closing Performance Gaps - Emphasizes improving academic achievement of the economically disadvantaged student group and the lowest performing race/ethnicity student groups at each campus or district.
(All Economically Disadvantaged Students; Student Groups by Race/Ethnicity)
•Postsecondary Readiness - Includes measures of high school completion, and beginning in 2014, State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) performance at the postsecondary readiness standard.
(All Students; Student Groups by Race/Ethnicity; English Language Learners; Special Education)

Districts and campuses with students in Grade 9 or above must meet targets on all four indexes. Districts and campuses with students in Grade 8 or lower must meet targets on the first three indexes (excluding Postsecondary Readiness).

From the Dallas Morning News:

School districts and campuses were graded with one of two ratings: “met standard” or “improvement required.” In addition, campuses were recognized for exemplary student achievement under three labels: “Top 25 Percent Student Progress,” “Academic Achievement in Reading,” and “Academic Achievement in Math.”

[Back2Texas]

There's tons more detail in this presentation: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfre...3_overview.ppt

It's interesting, clearly a different way to look at/evaluate schools. To take one example that I know really well: The chunk of Coppell that is zoned to CFB-ISD is considered to be far less desirable than the rest of Coppell (zoned to Coppell ISD). 2011 accountability ratings for the CFB-ISD schools attended by Coppell residents:
Elementary: Riverchase -> Recognized
Middle: Bush -> Academically Acceptable
High: Ranchview -> Academically Acceptable

Whereas Coppell ISD had all but 1 elementary rated Exemplary, middle schools were 2 Recognized/1 Exemplary, high schools both Recognized. Clearly better, right?

Well... if you look at the new ratings, all the schools Met Standards, but as far as distinctions go, Riverchase got two, which was the same number as all nine Coppell ISD elementaries COMBINED. (Valley Ranch had one, Denton Creek had one, the rest had none.) Bush had one, vs. one for Coppell Middle East and none for the other two Coppell Middles. High schools are equal as Ranchview and both Coppell high schools received all three distinctions, but some notable high schools that did NOT receive all three distinctions include Carroll Senior High, Flower Mound High, and all of the Plano high schools except McMillen.

Were these ratings designed to give City Data members more conflicting statistics to fight over when debating the "best" school districts? Haha.

[Maple Shade]

State ratings are pretty much useless in real world.

[mSooner]

I thought this was a temporary system for the next three years until they finish a new system?

[mSooner]

Latest Texas District And School Ratings Due Today | KERA News

[Big G]

Y'all should check out the "accountability manual" on the TEA site. Talk about cooking the books! This system, when you dig deep, is designed to ensure everyone gets a "virtual lollipop".

You ask me, this methodology is so ridiculous as to be completely without value as a basis for comparison.

Why not? Because each school is being judged against an undisclosed group of 40 peer schools, which varies for each and every school. So, for example, the CFB schools mentioned above ranked higher in their grouping than the Coppell schools did in their (different) grouping. But that says nothing about how the schools stack up head-to-head.

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Although I could have some Plano-centric fun dogging the Plano West boosters, by pointing out how Bowman and Wilson outrank Renner, and Williams and Vines outrank Shepton. What's up with that?