Taylor and Hutto Independent School Districts joined 248 other statewide districts requesting the Texas Education Agency reconsider an upcoming “accountability refresh” predicted to negatively impact the A-F grades given to school districts and campuses.
In a letter dated March 6, 2023 and addressed to Governor Greg Abbott, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, Chairman Brad Buckley of the House Public Education Committee and Chairman Brandon Creighton of the Senate Education Committee, the districts laid out their concerns over the proposed revision.
At issue is a change to the numerical rating or “cut score” that is required to make a passing grade in the College, Career and Military Readiness category, which accounts for 40% of a high school’s overall grade.
“Increasing the cut score for an A for CCMR by almost 47% in a single year will create the misconception that high performing schools are drastically declining, even if their CCMR performance actually improved,” according to the letter. “In the midst of a teacher shortage, the last thing school districts need is another false narrative that drives a wedge between schools and the families they serve. No public relations campaign from the TEA will be adequate to combat the misperception that our schools are suddenly worse than they were last year.”
Taylor ISD superintendent Devin Padavil said the change to the CCMR cut score will result in Taylor High School’s letter grade falling from a C to a possible D or F.
“Last year, the (CCMR) grade was an 81,” Padavil said. “Those same results would convert to a 58 this year. The challenge is those numbers are baked in. We’re using last year’s data to get this year’s grade. This affects the overall grade given the high school. We can do everything we can to improve CCMR at the high school this year, but it will only count for 2024’s accountability rating, not 2023’s accountability rating.”
TEA Spokesperson Jake Kobersky said the refresh is something the TEA committed to doing five years ago and is still being finetuned.
“The final framework is not out yet,” he said. “That’s not going to be finalized until May or June of this year. A lot is subject to change. Coming out of the pandemic we have a different landscape so now more than ever it’s important to have an accurate A-F system.”
The proposed change to the CCMR grading comes on top of changes to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness testing. This year, for the first time, all students will have to take all parts of the exam online, with no papertest option.
“I regret that last year we elected to allow all our students to take the STAAR test online,” Padavil said. “Statewide schools that took the online test had 8% fewer students pass the test than kids who did it on paper. Any parent can go to the TEA site and take the practice online test and you will see it is a lot harder than trying to do it on paper.”
The combination of the STAAR test change and potential CCMR refresh create a onetwo punch for schools.
The joint letter from the 250 districts, which represent more than 2.7 million students, advocates for legislative relief through House Bill 977, which would create an assessment and accountability commission.
“We have a responsibility to help our kids be successful because that helps define what the rest of their learning and their life is going to be like,” said Padavil. “The greatest thing parents can do is stay involved in their kids’ education. We also encourage our parents to reach out to their locally-elected representatives and ask them to have a fair evaluation model that anyone in the public can clearly understand when it comes to evaluating our schools.”
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We have a responsibility to help our kids be successful because that helps define what the rest of their learning and their life is going to be like.”
- Taylor ISD superintendent Devin Padavil
