_Chapter 13 - AEA Glossary and Index_

Alternative Education Campus (AEC) of Choice:  Alternative education programs provide accelerated instructional services to students at risk of dropping out of school.  At-risk students enroll at AECs of Choice to expedite progress toward performing at grade level and high school completion.

Annual Dropout Rate:  Grade 7-12 dropouts as a percent of total students enrolled at the AEC in grades 7-12 in a single school year.  The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Dropout Definition is later in this chapter.

At-Risk:  In accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC) §29.081(d), a "student at risk of dropping out of school" includes each student who is under 21 years of age and who:

1. was not advanced from one grade level to the next for one or more school years;
2. if the student is in grade 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12, did not maintain an average equivalent to 70 on a scale of 100 in two or more subjects in the foundation curriculum 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. did not perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument administered to the student under 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;
4. if the student is in prekindergarten, kindergarten, or grade 1, 2, or 3, did not perform satisfactorily on a readiness test or assessment instrument administered during the current school year;
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 the Public Education Information Management System (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 42 U.S.C. Section 11302, 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.

Campus Accountability Subset:  Only test results for students enrolled on the same campus on the PEIMS enrollment snapshot date (the last Friday in October) and on the testing date are included in the campus performance measure.

Completion Rate II:  Longitudinal rate that shows the percent of students who first attended grade 9 in the 2002-03 school year who graduated, received a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, or who are continuing their education four years later.  Known as the 2002-03 cohort, these students’ progress was tracked over the four years using data provided to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) by districts and charters and data available in the statewide GED database.  Graduates, continuing students (students who return to school for a fifth year), and GED recipients are counted as completers in the calculation of Completion Rate II.

District Accountability Subset:  Only test results for students enrolled in the same charter on the PEIMS enrollment snapshot date (the last Friday in October) and on the testing date are included in the charter performance measure.

NCES Dropout Definition:  Under this definition, a dropout is a student who is enrolled in Texas public school in grade 7-12, does not return to Texas public school the following fall, is not expelled, and does not graduate, receive a GED certificate, continue high school outside the Texas public school system or begin college, or die.  See Appendix I – NCES Dropout Definition for more information.

Registered AEC:  Term used to refer collectively to AECs of Choice and Residential Facilities that are registered for evaluation under alternative education accountability (AEA) procedures and meet the at-risk registration criterion.

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.

Residential Facility:  Education services are provided to students in residential programs and facilities operated under contract with the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), students in detention centers and correctional facilities that are registered with the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC), and students in private residential treatment centers.

School Leaver Provision for 2007:  For 2007 AEA ratings, if the Completion Rate II and/or Annual Dropout Rate indicator(s) are the only cause for an AEA: Academically Unacceptable rating, then the AEC or charter is assigned the AEA: Academically Acceptable label.  As a safeguard to this provision, districts are subject to identification and intervention by Performance-Based Monitoring (PBM) for dropout rates and leaver reporting.  Additionally, campuses that avoid being rated AEA: Academically Unacceptable due to this provision will be subject to technical assistance team (TAT) intervention requirements in the 2007-08 school year.  See Chapter 6 – Special Issues and Circumstances for more information on the School Leaver Provision.

Special Analysis:  Ensures that ratings based on small numbers of tests are assigned appropriately.  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.  Special analysis is conducted at the AEC level when there are fewer than 10 at-risk TAKS tests in the district or charter.  Special analysis is conducted at the charter level when there are fewer than 10 TAKS tests in the charter.

State-Developed Alternative Assessment II (SDAA II):  Assesses students with disabilities in grades 3-10 who receive instruction in the state’s curriculum but for whom the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test is not an appropriate measure of their academic progress.  SDAA II tests are given in reading, English language arts (ELA), writing, and mathematics.  Students are assessed at their appropriate instructional levels, as determined by their Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committees.

TAKS Progress Indicator:  The TAKS Progress indicator includes TAKS tests meeting the student passing standard or having a Texas Growth Index (TGI) score that meets the student growth standard of 0 (zero) or higher and TAKS exit-level retests meeting the student passing standard at the spring administrations (April and February) or in the previous fall or summer (October and July).

Texas Growth Index (TGI):  Developed for accountability purposes to evaluate individual student growth from one year to the next on the TAKS.  The TGI compares how students taking a TAKS subject test in one year perform on the same TAKS subject test in the next higher grade the following year.  An individual TGI score indicates the amount of growth for each student in relation to the average growth of all students who performed at the same level in the base year.  The TGI score of zero (0) indicates that the year-to-year change in scale score is equal to the average change.  The TGI measures growth for a student who passes as well as a student who does not pass the TAKS.

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