_Chapter 11 - Additional Features of AEA_ |
As shown in Chapter 10 - AEA Base Indicators, alternative education campuses (AECs) can achieve a rating by meeting the absolute standards for the different indicators. However, under certain conditions, AECs can achieve a rating by:
- meeting Required Improvement; and/or
- using the accountability data for at-risk students in the district.
All additional features are applied and calculated automatically by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) before ratings are released. AECs do not need to request the use of additional features.
Additional requirements for charters are explained later in this chapter.
AECs of Choice and Residential Facilities can achieve an AEA: Academically Acceptable rating by meeting the absolute standards for the alternative education accountability (AEA) indicators or by demonstrating Required Improvement. AECs initially rated AEA: Academically Unacceptable may achieve an AEA: Academically Acceptable rating using the Required Improvement feature. Required Improvement can be applied to all four base indicators: Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Progress, State-Developed Alternative Assessment II (SDAA II), Completion Rate II, and Annual Dropout Rate.
Required Improvement compares prior-year performance to current-year performance. In order to qualify for this comparison, the target group (All Students or any student group) must meet a minimum size requirement for the prior year. See Minimum Size Requirements in this chapter for each indicator.
Who is evaluated for Required Improvement:
- AECs of Choice whose performance is AEA: Academically Unacceptable for any TAKS Progress, SDAA II, Completion Rate II, or Annual Dropout Rate measure.
- Residential Facilities whose performance is AEA: Academically Unacceptable for any TAKS Progress, SDAA II, or Annual Dropout Rate measure. (Residential Facilities are not evaluated on Completion Rate II.)
- Charters evaluated under AEA procedures whose performance is AEA: Academically Unacceptable for any TAKS Progress, SDAA II, Completion Rate II, or Annual Dropout Rate measure.
Improvement Standard: In order for Required Improvement to move an AEC or charter to AEA: Academically Acceptable, the AEC or charter must demonstrate sufficient improvement on the deficient TAKS measures to meet a standard of 40% within two years.
Methodology:
The Actual Change must be equal to or greater than the Required Improvement.
Actual Change is the difference between performance in 2006 and 2005.
Required Improvement is the result of the 2006 standard minus performance in 2005 divided by 2.
Example:
In 2006, an AEC has performance above the AEA: Academically Acceptable standard in all student groups except for Economically Disadvantaged; only 38% meet the standard. Performance in 2005 for the same group is 20%.
First calculate the Actual Change: 38 - 20 = 18
Next calculate the Required Improvement: (40 - 20) / 2 = 10
Then compare Actual Change to Required Improvement to determine if Actual Change is greater than or equal to the Required Improvement: 18 Ž 10
The AEC meets Required Improvement, so its rating is AEA: Academically Acceptable.
Minimum Size Requirements: Required Improvement is not calculated if the AEC or charter has less than 10 test results (for the student group) in 2005.
Other Information:
- Student Passing Standard. Prior year percent Met Standard is recalculated using the current-year student passing standard so gain from the prior year to the current year uses comparable performance data for two years. Therefore the 2005 performance of 20% for the AEC in the example above is based on a student passing standard of Panel Recommendation so that it is comparable to performance in 2006.
- Performance in 2005. Prior-year performance includes Spring 2005 grades 3-11 TAKS results (primary administration); Texas Growth Index (TGI) for 2004 to 2005, growth of 0 (zero) or higher; April and February 2005, and October and July 2004 grade 11 TAKS retests meeting the passing standard; and April and February 2005, and October and July 2004 grade 12 results meeting the student passing standard.
- Rounding. All improvement calculations of performance rates and standards are rounded to whole numbers. For example, 4.5% is rounded to 5%.
Improvement Standard: In order for Required Improvement to move an AEC or charter to AEA: Academically Acceptable, the AEC or charter must demonstrate sufficient improvement on the SDAA II indicator to meet a standard of 40% within two years.
Methodology:
The Actual Change must be equal to or greater than the Required Improvement.
Actual Change is the difference between performance in 2006 and 2005.
Required Improvement is the result of the 2006 standard minus performance in 2005 divided by 2.
Example:
In 2006, an AEC has performance below the AEA: Academically Acceptable standard; only 28% of All Students meet the standard. Performance in 2005 is 10%.
First calculate the Actual Change: 28 - 10 = 18
Next calculate the Required Improvement: (40 - 10) / 2 = 15
Then compare Actual Change to Required Improvement to determine if Actual Change is greater than or equal to the Required Improvement: 18 Ž 15
The AEC meets Required Improvement, so its rating is AEA: Academically Acceptable.
Minimum Size Requirements: Required Improvement is not calculated if the AEC or charter has less than 10 test results in 2005.
Other Information: All improvement calculations of performance rates and standards are rounded to whole numbers. For example, 4.5% is rounded to 5%.
Improvement Standard: In order for Required Improvement to move an AEC of Choice or charter to AEA: Academically Acceptable, the AEC of Choice or charter must demonstrate sufficient improvement on the deficient Completion Rate II measures since the Class of 2004 to be at 75.0% within two years.
Methodology:
The Actual Change must be equal to or greater than the Required Improvement.
Actual Change is the difference between the Completion Rate II for the Class of 2005 and the Class of 2004.
Required Improvement is the result of the 2006 standard minus the Completion Rate II for the Class of 2004 divided by 2.
Example:
An AEC of Choice has a Class of 2005 Completion Rate II of 72.3% for the White student group. The Class of 2004 Completion Rate II for this same group is 63.8%.
First calculate the Actual Change: 72.3 - 63.8 = 8.5
Next calculate the Required Improvement: (75.0 - 63.8) / 2 = 5.6
Then compare Actual Change to Required Improvement to determine if Actual Change is greater than or equal to the Required Improvement: 8.5 Ž 5.6
The AEC of Choice meets Required Improvement, so its rating is AEA: Academically Acceptable.
Minimum Size Requirements: Required Improvement is not calculated if the AEC of Choice or charter has less than 10 students (in the same student group) in the Completion Rate II Class of 2004.
Other Information:
- Completion Rate II Definition. Completion Rate II for the prior year is computed using the same definition as the current year so that gain from the prior year to the current year uses comparable data for both years. Specifically, the Completion Rate II definition includes graduates, General Educational Development (GED) recipients, and continuing students as completers.
- Rounding. All calculations are expressed as a percent, rounded to one decimal point. For example, 4.85% is rounded to 4.9%.
Improvement Standard: In order for Required Improvement to move an AEC or charter to AEA: Academically Acceptable, the AEC or charter must demonstrate a decline in the Annual Dropout Rate to be at 10.0% within two years.
Methodology:
The Actual Change must be equal to or less than the Required Improvement.
Actual Change is the difference between the 2004-05 and 2003-04 Annual Dropout Rates.
Required Improvement is the result of the 2006 standard minus the 2003-04 Annual Dropout Rate divided by 2.
This calculation measures declines in rates. The Actual Change in the Annual Dropout Rate must be less than or equal to the Required Improvement for the standard to be met and will contain negative numbers. The Actual Change needs to be a larger negative number than the required change.
Example:
In 2004-05, an AEC had an Annual Dropout Rate for the Hispanic student group of 12.8%. The Annual Dropout Rate in 2003-04 for the same group was 24.2%.
First calculate the Actual Change: 12.8 - 24.2 = -11.4
Next calculate the Required Improvement: (10.0 - 24.2) / 2 = -7.1
Then compare Actual Change to Required Improvement to determine if the Actual Change is less than or equal to the Required Improvement: -11.4 Ž -7.1
The AEC meets Required Improvement, so its rating is AEA: Academically Acceptable.
Minimum Size Requirements: Required Improvement is not calculated if the AEC or charter has less than 10 grade 7-12 students (in the same student group) in 2003-04.
Other Information: All calculations are expressed as a percent, rounded to one decimal point. For example, -1.875% is rounded to -1.9%.
In limited circumstances, data for at-risk students in the district are used to evaluate registered AECs. Use of data for at-risk students in the district acknowledges that AECs are part of the overall district strategy for education of students at risk of dropping out of school.
AECs of Choice and Residential Facilities may be evaluated on the TAKS Progress indicator using data for at-risk students in the district. AECs of Choice may be evaluated on Completion Rate II of at-risk students in the district.
Who is evaluated for the TAKS Progress Indicator using performance data of at-risk students in the district:
- AECs of Choice and Residential Facilities that do not meet the 40% standard, do not demonstrate Required Improvement, and have results for fewer than 10 tests in the current year.
- AECs of Choice and Residential Facilities with no TAKS results.
Required Improvement: If the AEC does not meet the performance standard based on district performance data of at-risk students, then Required Improvement is calculated using district performance data of at-risk students.
Minimum Size Requirements: If there are less than 10 at-risk TAKS test results in the district, then Special Analysis is conducted.
Special Analysis: Special Analysis consists of analyzing current and past performance data to determine if the initial rating assigned under the automated evaluation process is an aberration or an indication of consistent performance. Methods of Special Analysis are discussed in Chapter 6 - Special Issues and Circumstances.
Who is evaluated for Completion Rate II using data of at-risk students in the district:
- AECs of Choice that do not meet the 75.0% accountability standard or demonstrate Required Improvement.
- AECs of Choice that serve students in any of grades 9-12, but do not have a Completion Rate II.
- If the AEC of Choice does not serve students in any of grades 9-12 in the 2005-06 school year, then the AEC of Choice is not evaluated on Completion Rate II.
Required Improvement: If the AEC of Choice does not meet the accountability standard based on at-risk students in the district or if the AEC of Choice does not have a Completion Rate II, then Required Improvement is calculated using Completion Rate II of at-risk students in the district.
Minimum Size Requirements:
- Completion Rate II of at-risk students in the district is evaluated if there are:
- at least 5 at-risk dropouts (non-completers), and
- at least 10 students in the district at-risk Completion Rate II class.
- If at-risk students in the district do not meet minimum size requirements, then the AEC of Choice is not evaluated on Completion Rate II.
Underreported Students: Charters evaluated under AEA procedures are subject to underreported student standards as described in Chapter 3 - The Basics: Additional Features.
Additional Students in Charter Ratings: Charters evaluated under AEA procedures are responsible for the performance of all students, including those who attend campuses that receive a rating of AEA: Not Rated - Other.
Registered AECs rated AEA: Academically Unacceptable do not prevent a district rating of Exemplary or Recognized.
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