February 9, 2007

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED

SUBJECT: New Policies Regarding Campus Accountability History

Each year the Texas Education Agency (TEA) identifies Academically Unacceptable (AU) campuses and determines the number of consecutive years of AU performance for accountability interventions. Accountability interventions escalate with each additional year of AU performance. Because of the accountability implications of campusnumber changesfor AU campuses and campuses not rated for one or more years, the following policies are being implemented as part of the accountability system safeguards administered by TEA. All of the policies outlined below will be implemented immediately and apply to both school districts and charters. The policies will affect only a few campuses across the state in any one year.

Timing of Campus Number Changes: School districts and charters must request campus number changes of existing campuses for the current school year by October 1 to ensure time for processing before the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) fall snapshot date in late October. Campus number changes for the current school year must be made by the PEIMS fall snapshot date. Changes for a subsequent school year will not be processed before November 1. This policy does not apply to new active campuses opening mid-year or to campuses under construction.

Campuses and Districts Not Rated for One or More Years: In determining consecutive years of AU ratings for purposes of accountability interventions and sanctions, only years that the campus is assigned an accountability rating of Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable, Academically Unacceptable, AEA: Academically Acceptable, AEA: Academically Unacceptable, or equivalent ratings in previous years, will be considered. Following are three circumstances to which this policy applies.

  1. If an Academically Unacceptable campus receives no rating, followed by an AU rating, the AU ratings will be considered consecutive years of AU ratings. (A campus receives no rating if it does not report any students in membership on the PEIMS fall snapshot date.) For example,

2006 – Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable

2007 – no rating issued

2008 – Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable

In this example, the 2006 rating and 2008 rating will be considered consecutive years of Academically Unacceptable ratings for purposes of accountability interventions and sanctions.

  1. If an Academically Unacceptable campus receives an accountability rating of Not Rated: Data Integrity Issues, followed by an AU rating, the AU ratings will be considered consecutive years of AU ratings. For example,

2006 – Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable

2007 – Not Rated: Data Integrity Issues

2008 – Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable

In this example, the 2006 rating and 2008 rating will be considered consecutive years of Academically Unacceptable ratings for purposes of accountability interventions and sanctions.

  1. If an Academically Unacceptable campus receives an accountability rating of Not Rated: Other, followed by an AU rating, the AU ratings will be considered consecutive years of AU ratings. For example,

2006 – Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable

2007 – Not Rated: Other or AEA: Not Rated – Other

2008 – Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable

In this example, the 2006 rating and 2008 rating will be considered consecutive years of Academically Unacceptable ratings for purposes of accountability interventions and sanctions.

The consecutive years of AU ratings could be separated by more than one year of temporary closure or Not Rated ratings. This policy applies to districts and charters as well as campuses when Not Rated: Data Integrity Issues and Not Rated: Other ratings are assigned. However, the policy does not apply to districts (charters) or campuses that receive a rating of AEA: Not Rated – Other under the Alternative Education Accountability (AEA) Residential Facility procedures.

Campus Number Changes and Accountability Interventions: Academically Unacceptableratings received under two different campus numbers may be considered to be consecutive years of AU ratings for accountability interventions and sanctions for an AU campus whose campus number changes. Beginning immediately, school districts and charters must receive TEA approval to change the campus number of a campus rated Academically Unacceptable or AEA: Academically Unacceptable. The determination of whether or not accountability ratings histories will be linked to new campus numbers will be made at the time the new numbers are assigned so that districts are aware of the accountability consequences of changing campus numbers.

Although the ratings history may be linked across campus numbers for purposes of determining consecutive years of AU ratings, data will not be linked across campus numbers. This includes PEIMS data, assessment data, and accountability indicators that draw on those data. Campuses with new campus numbers cannot take advantage of Required Improvement provisions of the accountability system to gate up to higher ratings the first year under a new number. Changing a campus number under these circumstances can be to the disadvantage of an AU campus, which should be considered by districts and charters when requesting campus number changes for AUcampuses.

Academically Unacceptable Campuses with No Students the Following Year: If a campus that received an AU rating does not report any students in membership the following fall, TEA will follow up with the school district or charter to determine if the ratings history of the AU campus should be associated with a new campus number.

Campus Number Changes Before the Ratings Release:If a campus that receives an AU rating on August 1 has been assigned a new campus number for the upcoming school year, TEA will follow up with the district or charter to determine if the AU rating should be associated with the new campus number.

Contacts

If you have questions about these new accountability policies regarding campus and district accountability history, please contact the TEA staff listed below or your Education Service Center AskTED administrator.

Subject / Contact / Telephone / E-mail
Campus number assignment: school districts / TEA AskTED Administrator / 512-463-9809 /
Campus number assignment: charters / Charter Schools Division / 512-463-9575 /
Accountability interventions / Program Monitoring and Interventions / 512-463-9414 /
Accountability ratings / Performance Reporting / 512-463-9704 /

Sincerely,

Shirley J. Neeley

Commissioner of Education