_Appendix I - Hurricanes Katrina and Rita_ |
When Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, Texas public schools were significantly impacted. The influx of evacuees from Louisiana and the other affected states resulted in a considerable increase in enrollment. As of December 8, 2005, there were more than 41,400 displaced students enrolled in 545 Texas public school districts and charters.
When Hurricane Rita made landfall on September 24, 2005, its direct impact was felt by a large number of Texas school districts and charters which were forced to suspend classes, some for an extended period of time.
On October 12, 2005, school district personnel were advised that the TEA would make accommodations in the state accountability rating system to address Texas districts and campuses that were affected by Hurricane Katrina and/or Hurricane Rita.
In 2006, special processing of assessment results is employed due to the adverse effects districts experienced due to either Hurricanes Katrina and/or Rita.
TAKS and SDAA II - The assessment results (performance) of students displaced due to either Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita will be removed from the accountability data. The Katrina-Rita Indicator (KRI) code collected on the TAKS and SDAA II answer documents will be used to determine which scores to exclude. Students with KRI codes of '2,' '3,' '4,' or '5' will be excluded from the assessment results used for accountability. KRI code values and their meanings are shown below:
KRI
Code Value |
Meaning |
Abbreviated
Meaning |
2 |
Indicates that a child came to Texas from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida after June 1, 2005, because of or for reasons related to Hurricane Katrina, and the child enrolled in a Texas public school during the 2005-06 school year. | out-of-state, Katrina |
3 |
Indicates that a child came to Texas from Louisiana after September 24, 2005, because of or for reasons related to Hurricane Rita, and the child enrolled in a Texas public school during the 2005-06 school year. | out-of-state, Rita |
4 |
Indicates that a child enrolled in a Texas public school district after September 24, 2005, and during the 2005-06 school year because of either Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita, but it is not known which. | out-of-state, uncertain |
5 |
Indicates that a student enrolled in a Texas school before September 24, 2005, in a Texas county declared a disaster area because of Hurricane Rita, and the student enrolled in another Texas public school district after September 24, 2005, and during the 2005-06 school year. | Texas, Rita |
The KRI code is entered by district test administration personnel on each TAKS and SDAA II answer document through the agency use field. See the instructions provided in the 2006 State Assessment Program District and Campus Coordinator Manual for details. Column A of the agency use field is reserved for KRI coding. For accountability purposes, if any KRI code ('2,' '3,' '4,' or '5') is gridded for any test, it will be applied across all tests for that student.
Participation in the state assessment program does not affect state accountability ratings, but participation rates are reported on the AEIS and other annual reports. In the participation section of the 2005-06 AEIS reports, KRI-coded students will be identified in a separate group within the categories of "tested" and "non-tested" students. In addition, for a complete picture of participation, the tested KRI students will be distributed among of all test-takers by test type (i.e. TAKS, TAKS-I, SDAA II).
The KRI code established for each student will be compared to the 2005 campus last attended (CLA) as a system safeguard check. Students with a KRI value of '2,' '3,' or '4,' are not expected to have a CLA value, as these are students presumed to be non-Texas students prior to the hurricanes. Students with a KRI value of '5,' are expected to have a CLA value, as these are presumed to have been Texas students prior to Hurricane Rita.
Conflicting CLA and KRI values will be used to:
a) Evaluate any appeals that petition for rating changes due to problems with KRI coding (see Chapter 14 - Appealing the Ratings); and,
b) Create a system safeguard check. The system safeguard check will involve building a measure of the number of conflicts expressed as a percent of the total number of KRI coded students. Results will be analyzed. Campuses or districts that are significantly over-represented will be contacted for further information and may be subject to system safeguard and data integrity provisions outlined in Chapter 15 - Responsibilities and Consequences.
Ratings will be evaluated differently for districts that were directly impacted by Hurricane Rita and were closed for extended periods of time. Districts directly impacted by Hurricane Rita are defined to be:
a) Districts located in a county designated by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a disaster area that qualifies for public assistance due to Hurricane Rita; and,
b) Districts that were closed for ten or more instructional days between September 21, 2005 and November 3, 2005.
If a district is identified under this provision, all of its campuses are also identified.
TEA contacted ESC Directors in Regions 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 on April 11, 2006, and requested information on district closure and re-opening dates due to Hurricane Rita. Responses were due April 28, 2006. A final list of districts eligible for special evaluation in 2006 under the Hurricane Rita Provision will be posted to the agency website in May.
For identified districts and campuses, the accountability system will generate ratings using available data. If the 2006 ratings are not Academically Unacceptable and are equivalent to, or better than, the rating received in 2005, TEA will issue the new system-generated rating on August 1. For all others (meaning the 2006 rating is either Academically Unacceptable or lower than the rating received in 2005), TEA will issue a rating of Not Rated: Other on August 1. For these campuses and districts, a message will be included on the data table that states the Hurricane Rita Provision was used.
Districts may appeal the Not Rated: Other label and request the assignment of the system-generated rating if they wish. For example, using the hurricane provision, a campus in an identified district rated Exemplary in 2005 with a system-generated rating of Recognized in 2006 would be labeled Not Rated: Other. The district may appeal to have the rating changed to Recognized.
Any district/campus not identified as eligible for this provision may appeal under the regular appeals process. See Chapter 14 - Appealing the Ratings.
For purposes of counting consecutive years of ratings, 2005 and 2007 will be considered consecutive for districts or campuses receiving a Not Rated: Other label in 2006 due to hurricane-related issues. Districts receiving the Not Rated: Other ratings under this provision are still subject to the same system safeguards as all other rated districts.
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