_Chapter 5 - Gold Performance Acknowledgments_

The Gold Performance Acknowledgment (GPA) system acknowledges districts and campuses for high performance on indicators other than those used to determine accountability ratings. These indicators are in statute (Texas Education Code) or determined by the Commissioner of Education. Acknowledgment is given for high performance on:

Acknowledgment Categories

Acknowledged. The campus or district is rated Academically Acceptable or higher, has results to be evaluated, and has met the acknowledgment criteria on one or more of the indicators. Acknowledgments are awarded separately on each of the 14 indicators.

Does Not Qualify. Either of the following:

Not Applicable. Any of the following:

Table 8: Gold Performance Acknowledgment Standards for 2007

Indicator

Description

Standard (changes for 2007 in bold)

Year of Data

Advanced Course/Dual Enrollment Completion

Percent of 9th–12th graders completing and receiving credit for at least one Advanced/Dual Enrollment Course

25.0% or more**

2005-06

AP / IB Results

Percent of 11th and 12th graders taking at least one AP or IB examination AND

15.0% or more

AND

2005-06

Percent of 11th and 12th grade examinees scoring at or above the criterion on at least one examination (3 and above for AP; 4 and above for IB)

50.0% or more*

Attendance Rate

Attendance Rate for students in grades 1-12, the total number of days present divided by the total number of days in membership

District:             96.0%**

Multi-Level:      96.0%**

High School:    95.0%**

Middle/Jr High: 96.0%**

Elementary:     97.0%**

2005-06

Commended Performance: Reading/ELA

Percent of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400 with a 2 or higher on the essay)

25% or more**

Spring 2007

Commended Performance: Mathematics

Percent of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400)

25% or more**

Spring 2007

Commended Performance: Writing

Percent of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400 with a 3 or higher on the essay)

25% or more**

Spring 2007

Commended Performance: Science

Percent of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400)

25% or more**

Spring 2007

Commended Performance: Social Studies

Percent of examinees scoring at or above the TAKS commended performance standard (scale score of 2400)

25% or more**

Spring 2007

Comparable Improvement: Reading/ELA

Average Texas Growth Index (TGI) in TAKS Reading/ELA

Top Quartile

(top 25%)***

Spring 2007

Comparable Improvement: Mathematics

Average Texas Growth Index (TGI) in TAKS Mathematics

Top Quartile

(top 25%)***

Spring 2007

Recommended High School Program/DAP

Percent of graduates meeting or exceeding requirements for the RHSP/Distinguished Achievement Program

80.0% or more**

Class of 2006

SAT/ACT Results

Percent of graduates taking either the SAT or ACT AND

At least 70.0% of graduates AND

Class of 2006

Percent of examinees scoring at or above the criterion score (SAT 1110; ACT Composite 24)

40.0% or more at or above criterion*

TSI - Higher Education Readiness Component: English Language Arts

Percent of grade 11 examinees with a scale score of 2200 or more and a score of 3 or higher on the essay

50% or more**

Spring 2007

TSI - Higher Education Readiness Component: Mathematics

Percent of grade 11 examinees with a scale score of 2200 or more

50% or more**

Spring 2007

*     Indicator evaluates performance for All Students & the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, and White. Economically Disadvantaged status is not available from the testing results.

**   Indicator evaluates performance for All Students & the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

*** Acknowledgment for Comparable Improvement is available to campuses only. It is evaluated for All Students only.

Acknowledgment Indicators

Advanced Course/Dual Enrollment Completion

This indicator is based on a count of students who complete and receive credit for at least one advanced course in grades 9-12. Advanced courses include dual enrollment courses. Dual enrollment courses are those for which a student gets both high school and college credit. See Appendix D – Data Sources for a link to a list of advanced courses.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses with grades 9, 10, 11, and/or 12 that have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, at least 25.0% of the 2005-06 students in grades 9 through 12 must receive credit for at least one advanced course.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of students in grades 9 through 12
who received credit for at least one advanced course
number of students in grades 9 through 12 who received credit for at least one course

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of students. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2005-06

Data Source: PEIMS submission 3 (June 2006)

Other information:

Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate Results

This refers to the results of the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) examinations and the International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations taken by Texas public school students in a given school year. High school students may take these examinations, ideally upon completion of AP or IB courses, and may receive advanced placement or credit, or both, upon entering college. Generally, colleges will award credit or advanced placement for scores of 3, 4, or 5 on AP examinations and scores of 4, 5, 6, or 7 on IB examinations. Requirements vary by college and by subject tested.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses with grades 11 and/or 12 that have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must meet both a participation and a performance standard. It must:

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, and White.

Methodology:

Participation:

number of 11th and 12th graders taking at least one AP or IB examination
total non-special education students enrolled in 11th and 12th grades

and

Performance:

number of 11th and 12th graders with at least one score at or above the criterion score
number of 11th and 12th graders with at least one AP or IB examination

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers or number of non-special education students enrolled in the 11th and 12th grades. To be included in the evaluation for GPA, a student group must have:

Year of Data: 2005-06 school year

Data Source: The College Board; The International Baccalaureate Organization; and PEIMS submission 1 (October 2005)

Other information:

Attendance Rate

Attendance rates are based on student attendance for the entire school year for students in grades 1-12.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses whose grade span is within grades 1-12 and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: (Variable)

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

total number of days students in grades 1-12 were present in 2005-06
total number of days students in grades 1-12 were in membership in 2005-06

Minimum Size Requirements: For attendance, the minimum size is based on total days in membership rather than individual student counts. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2005-06

Data Source: PEIMS submission 3 (June 2006)

Other information:

Commended Performance: Reading/ELA

TAKS Commended Performance is the highest performance level set by the State Board of Education on the TAKS. Students who achieve Commended Performance have performed at a level that is considerably above the state passing standard and have shown a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level tested.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test students on TAKS reading (grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9) or English language arts (grades 10 & 11) and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must have 25% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the Commended Performance standard.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of test takers achieving Commended Performance on reading or ELA
total number test takers in reading or ELA

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Commended Performance: Mathematics

TAKS Commended Performance is the highest performance level set by the State Board of Education on the TAKS. Students who achieve Commended Performance have performed at a level that is considerably above the state passing standard and have shown a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level tested.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test students on TAKS mathematics (grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, & 11) and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must have 25% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the Commended Performance standard.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of test takers achieving Commended Performance on mathematics
total number test takers in mathematics

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Commended Performance: Writing

TAKS Commended Performance is the highest performance level set by the State Board of Education on the TAKS. Students who achieve Commended Performance have performed at a level that is considerably above the state passing standard and have shown a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level tested.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test students on TAKS writing (grades 4 & 7) and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must have 25% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the Commended Performance standard.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of test takers achieving Commended Performance on writing
total number of examinees in writing

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Commended Performance: Science

TAKS Commended Performance is the highest performance level set by the State Board of Education on the TAKS. Students who achieve Commended Performance have performed at a level that is considerably above the state passing standard and have shown a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level tested.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test students on TAKS science (grades 5, 10, & 11) and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher. Because grade 8 TAKS science is not part of the accountability system in 2007, the grade 8 science results are not included in the GPA commended indicator for science.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must have 25% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the Commended Performance standard.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of test takers achieving Commended Performance on science
total number examinees in science

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Commended Performance: Social Studies

TAKS Commended Performance is the highest performance level set by the State Board of Education on the TAKS. Students who achieve Commended Performance have performed at a level that is considerably above the state passing standard and have shown a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level tested.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test students on TAKS social studies (grades 8, 10, & 11) and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must have 25% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the Commended Performance standard.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of examineess achieving Commended Performance on social studies
total number examinees in social studies

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Comparable Improvement: Reading/ELA

Comparable Improvement (CI) is a measure that calculates how student performance on the TAKS test has changed (or grown) from one year to the next, and compares the change to that of the 40 schools that are demographically most similar to the target school.

Who is eligible: Campuses that test students on TAKS reading or English language arts in grades 4 - 11 and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher. Districts are not eligible because CI is not calculated at the district level.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus must have an average Texas Growth Index (TGI) within the top quartile (the top 25%) of their 40-member campus comparison group for reading/ELA.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students only.

Methodology: First, determine the campus’s average Texas Growth Index:

sum of matched student TGI values for reading/ELA
total number of matched students in reading/ELA

Then, determine which quartile the campus is in within its 40-member campus comparison group. See Appendix E – Texas Growth Index and Appendix F – Campus Comparison Group for a complete explanation of the methodology for this measure.

Minimum Size Requirements: Students must be matched to the spring 2006 TAKS administration—anywhere in the state—to find their prior year scale score for reading or ELA. Any campus with fewer than 10 matched students for a subject will not be assigned a quartile position.

Year of Data: 2007 and 2006 (Spring TAKS Administrations)

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Comparable Improvement: Mathematics

Comparable Improvement (CI) is a measure that calculates how student performance on the TAKS test has changed (or grown) from one year to the next, and compares the change to that of the 40 schools that are demographically most similar to the target school.

Who is eligible: Campuses that test students on TAKS mathematics in grades 4 – 11 and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher. Districts are not eligible because CI is not calculated at the district level.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus must have an average Texas Growth Index (TGI) within the top quartile (the top 25%) of their 40-member campus comparison group for mathematics.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students only.

Methodology: First, determine the campus’s average Texas Growth Index:

sum of matched student TGI values for mathematics
total number of matched students in mathematics

Then determine which quartile the campus is in within its 40-member campus comparison group. See Appendix E – Texas Growth Index and Appendix F – Campus Comparison Group for a complete explanation of the methodology for this measure.

Minimum Size Requirements: Students must be matched to the spring 2006 TAKS administration—anywhere in the state—to find their prior year scale score for mathematics. Any campus with fewer than 10 matched students for a subject will not be assigned a quartile position.

Year of Data: 2007 and 2006 (Spring TAKS Administrations)

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Recommended High School Program/DAP

This indicator shows the percent of graduates who were reported as having satisfied the course requirements for the Texas State Board of Education Recommended High School Program or Distinguished Achievement Program.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that have graduates and that are rated Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, 80.0% of all 2006 graduates reported must meet or exceed the requirements for the Recommended High School Program or Distinguished Achievement Program.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of graduates reported with graduation codes for
Recommended High School Program or Distinguished Achievement Program
number of graduates

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of graduates. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: Class of 2006

Data Source: PEIMS submission 1 (October 2006)

Other information:

SAT/ACT Results

This indicator shows the performance and participation on two college admissions tests: the College Board’s SAT Reasoning Test and ACT, Inc.’s ACT Assessment.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that have graduates and that are rated Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator, the campus or district must meet both a participation and a performance standard. It must:

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, and White.

Methodology:

Participation:

number of graduates taking either the SAT or the ACT
total non-special education graduates

and

Performance:

number of examinees at or above the criterion score
number of graduates taking either the SAT or the ACT

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers or graduates. To be included in the evaluation for GPA, a student group must have:

Year of Data: Class of 2006

Data Source:  The College Board (SAT) and ACT, Inc. (ACT)

Other information:

Texas Success Initiative (TSI) – Higher Education Readiness Component: English Language Arts (ELA)

This indicator shows the percent of grade 11 students who are considered ready to begin college-level work, based on their performance on the TAKS exit-level examination.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test grade 11 students on the exit-level TAKS English language arts and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator the campus or district must have 50% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the TSI standard. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board set the standard of college readiness on the exit-level TAKS at a scale score of 2200 for ELA and a score of 3 or higher on the essay.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of grade 11 test takers with a scale score of 2200
and a score of 3 or higher on the essay of the ELA test
total number of grade 11 students taking ELA

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Texas Success Initiative (TSI) – Higher Education Readiness Component: Mathematics

This indicator shows the percent of grade 11 students who are considered ready to begin college-level work, based on their performance on the TAKS exit-level examination.

Who is eligible: Districts and campuses that test grade 11 students on the exit-level TAKS mathematics and have a rating of Academically Acceptable or higher.

Standard: For acknowledgment on this indicator the campus or district must have 50% or more of its examinees scoring at or above the TSI standard. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board set the standard of college readiness on the exit-level TAKS at a scale score of 2200 for mathematics.

Student Groups: Performance is evaluated for All Students and the following student groups: African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.

Methodology:

number of test takers with a scale score of 2200 on mathematics
total number of grade 11 students taking mathematics

Minimum Size Requirements: All Students results are always evaluated, regardless of the number of test takers. Student groups may or may not be evaluated, depending on their size:

Year of Data: 2006-07

Data Source: Pearson Educational Measurement

Other information:

Notification of Acknowledgment

Notification of Gold Performance Acknowledgment will occur in late October 2007 at the same time as the 2007 ratings update that follows the resolution of all appeals. (See Chapter 18 – Calendar for more details.) At that time, the district lists and data tables on the TEA website will be updated to show the acknowledgments earned.

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