Four schools in region named 'Exemplary' in latest TEA ratings

AUSTIN — Four of the region's public school campuses earned “Exemplary” ratings while 11 others achieved “Recognized” marks in the 2010 state school accountability ratings released Friday by the Texas Education Agency.
Among the area’s public school districts, Moulton earned an Exemplary rating, while Hallettsville, Nixon-Smiley, Cuero and Shiner were named Recognized.
All four of the Exemplary campuses cited by the TEA are elementary schools: Nixon-Smiley Elementary, Hallettsville Elementary, Moulton Elementary and Flatonia Elementary.
Of the Recognized campuses, of note is the fact that seven of them are high schools — Gonzales, Nixon--Smiley, Hallettsville, Moulton, Shiner, Cuero and Yoakum.
Also of note: no campus or school district in the tregion this year was deemed “Academically Unacceptable.”
Many of the ratings released Friday are tempered by the use of the controversial Texas Projection Measure (TPM), a system which uses schools’ past performance in raising scores to predict future success, especially among at-risk student populations.
 Gonzales ISD saw two campuses earn the Recognized rating for the first time ever.
Gonzales High School and North Avenmue Intermediate were Recognized, while Gonzales Junior High, East Avenue Primary and Gonzales Elementary, along with the former Alternative Center for Education, were rated Academically Acceptable.
All three Nixon-Smiley ISD regular campuses achieved Recognized status, and the district iotself was one of 597 around the state to earn a Recognized status. Waelder ISD also earned the Academically Acceptable rating for the third straight year.
In Lavaca County, Shiner High School was recognized to go along with the elementary school’s Exemplary rating. Moulton ISD’s high school campus also earned a Recognized rating, as did Hallettsville High School and Hallettsville Junior High.
All three Luling ISD main campuses — Luling High School, Luling Junior High and Leonard Shanklin Elementary — were rated as Academically Acceptable.
In Dewitt County, Yoakum High School garnered a Recognized rating, while the district’s junior high, intermediate and primary campuses were all rated Academically Acceptable.
in Cuero ISD, the high school and Hunt Elementary earned a Recognized rating, while the junior high and intermediate campuses were rated Academically Acceptable.
Flatonia’s combined secondary campus was rated Academically Acceptable to go with the elementary school’s Exemplary rating.
Statwide, 239 school districts and 2,624 schools received Texas’ highest accountability rating of Exemplary.
To earn the Exemplary rating, at least 90 percent of a district’s or school’s students passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), 95 percent of high school students either graduated on time or continued high school for a fifth year, and the district had an annual middle school dropout rate of 1.8 percent or less. A district or campus could earn this rating by meeting the absolute standards or by using the Texas Projection Measure (TPM) or exceptions.  Special measures can only be used to move up one rating category.
The second highest rating of Recognized was received by 597 districts and 3,153 schools.
More rigorous standards were implemented this year to determine the state’s Recognized rating. The new standards require 80 percent of all students and each evaluated student group to pass the TAKS, compared to 75 percent in previous years. Additionally, the school or district must achieve an 85 percent completion rate and must now have an annual seventh and eighth-grade dropout rate of 1.8 percent or below. The previous seventh and eighth-grade dropout rate requirement was 2 percent.
“Many schools and districts earned one of the top ratings by meeting the absolute rating criteria and did not use a progress measure or an exception. That is because the TAKS passing rates and completion rates went up across the state in 2010, while dropout rates for grades 7-12 declined compared to the previous year. We saw real progress in our schools this year,” Commissioner of Education Robert Scott said.
“However, a number of schools and districts did use progress measures or exceptions to move up one rating category, which is allowable under the state accountability system. We understand that some people have concerns with these measures, particularly with the Texas Projection Measure.”
“TPM is a complex regression analysis but I believe it to be reliable. Nonetheless, I am willing to re-examine its use because we want the public to have complete faith in the school ratings,” the commissioner said.
For 2011 state accountability, Scott said he is considering several options for changes in the use of TPM to ensure that student performance is acknowledged and to ensure that the state accountability system remains transparent.  Proposals under consideration include the following:
* Suspension of the use of TPM for accountability ratings.
* Continued use of TPM in state accountability, but only for districts that elect to use it.
* Modifications to the calculation of TPM and/or its use to include additional safeguards, such as: applying performance floors; counting each student who fails but is projected to pass as a fraction of a passer; prohibiting TPM to be used for the same measure in a subsequent year; limiting the number of measures for which TPM can be used in a given year; and limiting which rating categories can use it.
The commissioner is expected to make a decision about the future use of TPM this summer.
Just as with the two top rating categories, some districts and campuses used the special provisions to receive an Academically Acceptable rating.  Overall, 298 districts and 1,456 schools received an Academically Acceptable rating under standard accountability procedures. Most earned the rating this year by meeting the absolute standards, which increased by 5 percentage points for science and math.
Forty-five districts and 125 schools received the lowest rating called Academically Unacceptable. They received this rating under standard accountability procedures if they had TAKS passing rates for any student group or their total student population below 70 percent for reading/English language arts, writing or social studies or below 60 percent for mathematics or 55 percent for science. A completion rate lower than 75 percent or an annual seventh and eighth-grade dropout rate higher than 1.8 percent would also result in an Academically Unacceptable rating.