Glossary of Terms, 2014-15

Additional Information on Campus and District Rates
Table 1 of campus and district annual dropout and longitudinal pages shows rates calculated for federal accountability purposes. A student in a Texas Juvenile Justice Department facility or residential treatment facility served by a Texas public school district, as described in Texas Education Code (TEC) §39.053(g-3) or §39.055, is excluded from campus and district annual dropout and longitudinal rate calculations in Table 1.

Table 2 of campus and district annual dropout and longitudinal pages shows rates with statutory exclusions applied for state accountability. Under TEC, a student who meets one or more of the following criteria is excluded from campus and district rate calculations used for state accountability purposes.

• Under TEC §39.053(g-1), a student who meets at least one of the following criteria is excluded from campus and district annual dropout and longitudinal rate calculations: (a) a student who is ordered by a court to attend a high school equivalency certificate program but has not earned a high school equivalency certificate; (b) a student previously reported to the state as a dropout; (c) a student in attendance but who is not in membership for purposes of average daily attendance (i.e., students for whom school districts are not receiving state Foundation School Program [FSP] funds); (d) a student whose initial enrollment in a school in the United States in Grades 7 through 12 was as an unschooled refugee or asylee as defined by TEC §39.027(a-1); (e) a student who is in the district exclusively as a function of having been detained at a county detention facility but is otherwise not a student of the district, or a student who is being provided services by an open-enrollment charter school exclusively as the result of having been detained at the facility; or (f) a student who is incarcerated in a state jail or federal penitentiary as an adult or as a person certified to stand trial as an adult.
• Under TEC §39.053(g-2), a student who (a) is at least 18 years of age as of September 1 and has satisfied the credit requirements for high school graduation; (b) has not completed his or her individualized education program (IEP); and (c) is enrolled and receiving IEP services is excluded from longitudinal rate calculations. This exclusion was new for the 2015-16 school year and therefore applies to the Class of 2015 five- and six-year longitudinal rates only.
• Under TEC §39.053(g-3), the dropout record for a student who fails to enroll in school after leaving a residential treatment facility or a pre- or post-adjudication facility is not attributed to the district serving the facility.
• Under TEC §39.055, a student in a Texas Juvenile Justice Department facility or residential treatment facility served by a Texas public school district is excluded from campus and district rates.

At-Risk
A student identified as at-risk of dropping out of school is one who is under age 26 and who meets one or more of the following criteria:

1) is in prekindergarten, kindergarten, or Grades 1, 2, or 3 and did not perform satisfactorily on a readiness test or assessment instrument administered during the current school year;

2) is in Grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 and did not maintain an average equivalent to 70 on a scale of 100 in two or more subjects in the foundation curriculum (language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) during a semester in the preceding or current school year or is not maintaining such an average in two or more subjects in the foundation curriculum in the current semester;

3) was not advanced from one grade level to the next for one or more school years;

4) did not perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument administered to the student under Texas Education Code (TEC) Subchapter B, Chapter 39, and who has not in the previous or current school year subsequently performed on that instrument or another appropriate instrument at a level equal to at least 110 percent of the level of satisfactory performance on that instrument;

5) is pregnant or is a parent;

6) has been placed in an alternative education program in accordance with TEC §37.006 during the preceding or current school year;

7) has been expelled in accordance with TEC §37.007 during the preceding or current school year;

8) is currently on parole, probation, deferred prosecution or other conditional release;

9) was previously reported through PEIMS to have dropped out of school;

10) is a student of limited English proficiency, as defined by TEC §29.052;

11) is in the custody or care of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services or has, during the current school year, been referred to the department by a school official, officer of the juvenile court, or law enforcement official;

12) is homeless, as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2015), Title X, Part C, Section 725(2), the term "homeless children and youths," and its subsequent amendments; or

13) resided in the preceding school year or resides in the current school year in a residential placement facility in the district, including a detention facility, substance abuse treatment facility, emergency shelter, psychiatric hospital, halfway house, or foster group home.

Bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL)
Bilingual indicates that the student is participating in a state-approved bilingual education program. The program must be a full-time program that provides dual-language instruction through the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills in the content areas (mathematics, science, health, and social studies) in the primary language of English language learners. In addition, the program must provide for a carefully structured and sequenced mastery of English cognitive academic language development. English as a second language (ESL) indicates that a student is participating in a state-approved ESL program. An ESL program in Grade 8 and below is a program of intensive instruction in English from teachers either certified or endorsed in ESL who use second language acquisition information to teach ELLs the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS). An ESL program in Grades 9-12 is a program of intensive instruction in English from teachers trained in recognizing and dealing with language differences who use secondary language acquisition information to teach ELLs the ELPS.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards]

Career and Technical Education (CTE)
A student may be enrolled in a state-approved CTE program either as a participant in the district's career and technical coherent sequence of courses or as a participant in the district's tech prep program.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards]

Data Masking
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (Title 20 of the United States Code §1232g; Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 99) prohibits improper disclosure of personally identifiable student information by any educational agency or institution that receives funding under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). In 2016, ED guidance on reporting education data in compliance with FERPA changed, relaxing requirements for masking state-level data. Based on this guidance, state-level data presented will no longer be masked, beginning with 2015-16 reporting.
[Source: Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools, 2015-16]

Diploma Programs
Students in the class of 2015 were required to enroll in a graduation program when they began Grade 9 in 2011-12. Students could enroll in the Recommended High School Program (RHSP) or the Advanced High School Program (AHSP), unless the student, the student's parent, and a school counselor or administrator agreed to allow the student to enroll in the Minimum High School Program (MHSP) (Title 19 of the Texas Administrative Code [TAC] §74.61, 2016, amended to be effective August 23, 2010). In 2013, the 83rd Texas Legislature established the Foundation High School Program (FHSP) as the new high school graduation program for all students who entered Grade 9 in the 2014-15 school year or later (Texas Education Code [TEC] §28.025, 2013). The commissioner of education adopted a transition plan for students graduating in the 2013-14 through 2016-17 school years, giving those students the option of graduating under the new foundation program instead of the existing graduation plans (19 TAC §§74.1021 and 74.1022, 2016, amended to be effective December 16, 2013). Although students could graduate under the FHSP in 2013-14, FHSP requirements were not finalized until the 2014-15 school year (19 TAC §74.12, 2016, amended to be effective July 8, 2014). For 2014-15 graduates who opted into the FHSP, the program required 22 credits to graduate, including four credits in English language arts and three credits each in mathematics, science, and social studies. Additionally, beginning with 2014-15 graduates, the program allowed students to earn special recognition, known as an endorsement, in one or more fields of study, such as business and industry or arts and humanities (19 TAC §74.13, 2016, amended to be effective July 8, 2014; TEC §28.025, 2013). A 2014-15 graduate could earn an endorsement by successfully completing the following: the curriculum requirements for the FHSP; one additional credit each in mathematics and science; two additional elective credits; and the curriculum requirements for the selected endorsement. Moreover, a 2014-15 graduate who met all of these requirements could also earn a distinguished level of achievement (DLA) if one of the four credits earned in mathematics was for Algebra II (19 TAC §74.11, 2016, amended to be effective July 8, 2014; TEC §28.025, 2013).
[Source: Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools, 2014-15]

Dropout
A dropout is a student who is enrolled in public school in Grades 7-12, does not return to public school the following fall, is not expelled, and does not: graduate, receive a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, continue school outside the public school system, begin college, or die.
[Source: Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools, 2014-15]

Economically Disadvantaged
A student identified as economically disadvantaged is one who is eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards]

English Language Learner (ELL)
A student is classified as an ELL when: (a) a language other than English is used as the primary language in the home, and (b) the student's English language proficiency is determined to be limited by a Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) or as indicated by a test of English proficiency. Most students identified as ELLs receive bilingual or English as a second language instruction. With annual dropout rates, students were identified as ELLs in the 2014-15 school year. With longitudinal graduation and dropout rates, students were identified as ELLs: (a) at any time while attending Texas public schools; (b) at any time while attending Grades 9-12 in Texas public schools; and (c) in their last year in Texas public schools.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards, 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §89.1225]

Gifted and Talented
A student identified as gifted and talented is one who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who:

1) exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;

2) possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or,

3) excels in a specific academic field.

Immigrant
A student identified as an immigrant is one who:

1) is aged 3 through 21;

2) was not born in any state in the United States, Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia;

3) has not been attending school in the United States for more than three full academic years.

Individual Graduation Committee (IGC)
In 2015, the 84th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 149, which revised the state's assessment graduation requirements for students enrolled in Grade 11 or 12 during the 2014-15, 2015-16, or 2016-17 school year. Under the new requirements, a student who failed an end-of-course assessment for no more than two courses could still receive a Texas high school diploma if he or she was determined to be qualified to graduate by an individual graduation committee (Title 19 of the Texas Administrative Code [TAC] §101.3022, 2016, amended to be effective September 6, 2015). For the 2014-15 school year, school districts had the authority to establish necessary procedures and timelines regarding implementation of IGCs. In April 2016, the commissioner of education adopted rules related to IGC implementation, including timelines and related reporting requirements (19 TAC §74.1025, 2016; TEC 28.0258(k), 2015).
[Source: Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools, 2014-15]

Migrant
A student identified as a migrant is one who is aged 3 through 21 and is a migratory agricultural worker (or whose parent, spouse, or guardian is a migratory agricultural worker) and who, in the preceding 36 months, to obtain temporary employment in agriculture or fishing, or to accompany a parent, spouse, or guardian to obtain such employment: (a) has moved from one school district to another; or (b) resides in a school district of more than 15,000 square miles, and migrates a distance of 20 miles or more to a temporary residence in order to engage in a fishing activity.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards]

Overage
Based on compulsory school attendance laws in Texas, under which most students begin Grade 1 at the age of six, the age of a student in any specified grade is usually equal to that grade level plus five years. For example, most students in Grade 9 are 14 years of age (9+5=14). A student whose age on September 1 is higher than his or her grade level plus five years is classified as overage.
[Source: Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools, 2014-15]

Race/Ethnicity
Students in Texas may be classified as:

1) African American: A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

2) American Indian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America).

3) Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

4) Hispanic: A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

5) Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

6) White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.

7) Multiracial: A person having more than one of African American, American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander, or White races.

Special Education
A student enrolled in a special education program is one who is participating in a special education instructional and related services program or a general education program using special education support services, supplementary aids, or other special arrangements.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards]

Title I
A Title I student is one participating in a program authorized under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is designed to improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students.
[Source: 2014-2015 PEIMS Data Standards]