District to appeal TEA rating; code error brought down score
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

PHOTO BY KEVIN PARKER TEA headquarters The Texas Education Agency, which oversees TAKS testing, occupies part of the William B. Travis Building in Austin.

The Port Aransas Independent School District will appeal the state's recent rating of PAISD as an academically "acceptable" district, according to Superintendent Billy Wiggins.

"I think we've got a really high percentage chance of winning," Wiggins said.

Ratings issued by the Texas Education Agency are based on student performances on state-mandated testing. When the TEA announced ratings for schools statewide on Aug. 1, Wiggins said he was considering an appeal based on his contention that the state didn't consider strides that certain special-education students made in the testing. Wiggins said he later investigated and found it unlikely that that the TEA would raise the rating based on that argument.

However, as PAISD officials began closely examining individual student performances on testing done during the 2006-2007 school year, the officials found that coding errors made by a PAISD employee on seven tests administered at Brundrett Middle School accidentally made it appear the students had failed the tests even though they had not, Wiggins said.

If those seven students had passed the tests, Wiggins said, it would have pumped up the district's passing percentage to such a level that PAISD would be rated as recognized - an important step above the acceptable level.

PAISD would suffer no concrete penalties by being rated as merely recognized, but Wiggins said it's still important to be rated higher, if possible. The difference between acceptable and recognized is akin to the difference between grades of a C and a B.

Being rated as recognized "sets us above the average, and our goals are to be above," Wiggins said. "We want to be considered … one of the most well-rounded public schools in the area and even in the state."

TEA ratings are based on student performances on the TAKS - the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Some students also take a test known as the SDAA II - the State Developed Alternative Assessment. SDAA II is designed for specialeducation students who don't take the more difficult TAKS test due to learning disabilities.

Depending on how students perform on TAKS tests, the TEA assigns public schools all over the state varying statuses, from academically unacceptable on up to acceptable, recognized and, at the top of the scale, exemplary. When schools are rated unacceptable two years in a row, it can lead to a maximum consequence of the state taking over a campus and firing administrators and teachers.

Based on testing done during the 2006-07 school year, the TEA rated H.G. Olsen Elementary School as recognized, Brundrett Middle School exemplary and Port Aransas High School recognized.

But PAISD as a whole got the lower rating of acceptable because of lower-than expected performance by the districts special-education students who took the SDAA II.

In efforts to bring special-education students up to par with regular students the same age, PAISD officials had many special-education students take TAKS tests in 2006- 07 rather than their usual SDAA II tests. A significant number of those students did well on the TAKS testing, which was a victory that the TEA did not take into consideration when assigning a rating to PAISD, Wiggins said.

However, some students who took the SDAA II tests did not do as well as expected. It was the district's overall performance on the SDAA II testing that was key to bringing PAISD's rating down to acceptable, Wiggins said.

A special-education student may take SDAA II tests of varying degrees of difficulty, depending on the student's ability level. Decisions on what tests students take are made by ARDs - Admission Review and Dismissal committees that are made up of parents, teachers and principals.

Because an employee accidentally penciled in the wrong bubbles on some forms, some BMS students were graded at higher levels than ARDs had assigned for the students, Wiggins said.

ARDs previously put together documents indicating the levels at which the students should have been graded, Wiggins said, adding that he plans to use those documents as part of the appeal to the TEA.

The deadline for submitting appeals to the TEA is tomorrow - Friday, Aug. 17.

Last year, the TEA granted 62 of 160 appeals, according to Suzanne Marchman, a spokeswoman for the TEA.

TEA staff reviews appeals and makes recommendations to a threemember panel of educators who are not TEA employees. The panel considers the school district's appeal, the TEA staff recommendation and other relevant materials, then makes its recommendation to the state's education commissioner, who makes the final decision on the case, Marchman said.

The panel is appointed by the state's education commissioner, Marchman said. The panel's members haven't been named yet this year, she said.

Chief Deputy Commissioner Robert Scott is serving as acting commissioner of education until Gov. Rick Perry names a new TEA chief.

Wiggins said he expects the TEA to rule on the PAISD case by October.