By Charles McClure
news@ltview.com
Just a year removed from achieving a “Recognized” academic status from the Texas Education Agency, Lake Travis Independent School District officials are filing a formal appeal challenging a preliminary rating of “Academically Acceptable.”

Each year, the TEA ranks school districts according to its Accountability Rating System based primarily on standardized test scores, but also takes completion and dropout rates into consideration.

According to LTISD Director of Communications Marco Alvarado, overall student academic performance on state assessments should be adequate for the district and the high school to receive ratings of “Recognized.” However, the completion rate at the high school for one of the four student groups — White, African-American, Hispanic and Economically Disadvantaged — is the only indicator keeping LTISD and LTHS from achieving the Recognized rating.
“One student could make the difference,” said LTISD Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Instruction Myra Pettit. “The district is contesting the classifications assigned to a small number of students in the student group at issue, with hopes that data corrections will lead to revised ratings for the district and high school.”
The specifics of the TEA results will not be released until this coming Friday.
For LTISD superintendent Dr. Rocky Kirk, the accountability ratings are a source of frustration. He, along with many school leaders statewide, argue the accountability system is overdue for a substantial overhaul.
“Unfortunately, the preliminary ratings to be released by the state are truly not reflective of our exceptionally high student academic performance,” Kirk said. “The state system continues to be overwhelmingly punitive regarding the assignment of ratings. For example, our District results reflect a greater than 90 percent passing rate at every grade level tested in every subject matter tested, in the ‘all students’ category. That is exceptionally high academic performance, and it speaks well of our students, staff, and parents. The TEA’s preliminary assignment of ‘Acceptable’ belies the true performance of students and teachers in our classrooms.”
The school district advocates a multi-year analysis of student performance in LTISD reflects continued academic improvement on state testing.
“We have so many positives to point toward. LTISD continues to see increased gains in academic achievement across the district,” Pettit said. “I believe our community is well aware of the deficiencies in the state accountability rating model currently in use. We will appeal the preliminary ratings, but in the end, if TEA does not see it our way, we will still know that students in LTISD have the opportunity to pursue wonderful educational opportunities in our district. The state accountability system is flawed, but our commitment to student academic success is not.” (See multi-year chart above.)
According to Alvarado, the TEA assigns public school districts and their respective campuses annual ratings of Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable, and Academically Unacceptable based on student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Ratings also take into account longitudinal completion rates and annual dropout rates.
Under the 2009 State Accountability Rating System, LTISD schools received preliminary ratings of Exemplary (five campuses), Recognized (one campus), and Academically Acceptable (two campuses).
Decisions by TEA regarding appeals of ratings are expected to be issued in October.
TAKS has consistently come under fire for a multitude of reasons. In 2007, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1031 which repealed TAKS, replacing it with “end of course” exams in high school. But the change from TAKS to end of course exams is being instituted gradually.
Students who enter ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year will required to pass end-of-course exams in core curriculum subjects. Those students who entered ninth grade before 2011 will still be required to pass the exit-level TAKS in order to graduate from high school.
Once instituted, the new graduation standards will require students to take recommended or advanced curriculum with a minimum of three end of course exams in each of four basic subjects: English I, English II, English III; Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry; Biology, Chemistry, Physics; World Geography, World History, U.S. History.