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School Accountability Rating

School accountability ratings are based on the percent of students passing the TAKS, high school completion rate, and the annual dropout rate. Standards for TAKS, completion rates, and dropout rates must be met for all students as well as for student groups (African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged).

Gold Performance Acknowledgment (GPA): Some schools may also qualify for GPAs for high performance on Advanced Course/Dual Enrollment, AP/IB, Attendance, Commended Performance on TAKS, Comparable Improvement, SAT/ACT, Recommended High School Program, or Texas Success Initiative.

Paired Schools: Schools that report enrollment but do not have grades in which the TAKS test is given (such as K-2 schools) are paired with schools with which they have a "feeder" relationship to determine accountability ratings.

Indicators of Student Performance (Report shows only those indicators that apply, depending on grade span at the school.)

TAKS Met 2008 Standard: The TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) is a comprehensive testing program for public school students in grades 3 through 11. TAKS measures the extent to which a student has learned, understood, and is able to apply the important concepts and skills expected at each tested grade level. Students are assessed in English Language Arts (ELA) (grades 10 & 11), reading (grades 3-9), mathematics (grades 3-11), writing (grades 4 & 7), science (grades 5, 8, 10 & 11), and social studies (grades 8, 10 & 11). Results shown include only the performance of those students who were enrolled at the campus by the last Friday in October. Results are summed across grades for all grades tested at the school. Results for the TAKS (Accommodated) are included for science, social studies, and all grade 11 subjects.

TAKS Progress Measure: This measure is shown only for Alternative Education Campuses (AEC) rated under Alternative Education Accountability (AEA) procedures. The TAKS progress measure is based on the number of tests taken. It sums performance results across grades 3 through 12 and across all subjects to provide a single measure. Test results that meet the TAKS passing standard or have a Texas Growth Index (TGI) greater than zero, and exit-level TAKS retest results are included in this measure.

Students Not Tested Due to Exemptions: The report shows the percent of students who were exempted on every test because he or she received a Limited-English Proficiency (LEP) exemption and took only the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) test.

Progress of Prior Year TAKS Failers: This measure shows the percent of students who failed the TAKS in the previous year but passed in the current year.

Student Success Initiative (SSI): Students in grade 3 must pass the reading TAKS in order to be promoted to grade 4, and students in grades 5 and 8 must pass both the reading and mathematics TAKS in order to be promoted to grades 6 and 9, respectively. Students are given three opportunities to pass each test. Depending on the school, up to four measures are shown: 1) Students Requiring Accelerated Instruction: For each subject and grade, this shows the percent of students who did not pass the first administration of the TAKS. Students who did not pass the first administration must be provided accelerated instruction in preparation for the second administration. 2) TAKS Cumulative Met Standard: For each subject and grade, this shows the cumulative (and unduplicated) percent of students who took and passed the tests in the first and second administrations combined. 3) TAKS Failers Promoted by Grade Placement Committee: This shows the percent of students who failed all attempts to pass but were promoted to the next grade by their grade placement committee. 4) TAKS Met Standard (Failed in Previous Year): Using grade 3 as an example, this presents two calculations for students who failed all administrations of the grade 3 reading test in 2007: For those who were promoted to fourth grade, the first measure shows the percentage that passed the grade 4 reading test in 2008; and for those who were retained in third grade, the second measure shows the percent that passed the grade 3 reading test in 2008. When available, the same information is presented for the previous year.

Attendance Rate: The report shows the attendance rate for the entire school year for students in grades 1-12.

Annual Dropout Rate: Depending on the grade span at the school, one or two of the following three rates are shown: Annual Dropout Rate (Gr 7-8), Annual Dropout Rate (Gr 7-12), and Annual Dropout Rate (Gr 9-12). The annual rates are the number of students who dropped out (in the grades indicated) expressed as a percent of the number of students in attendance in those grades.

Completion/Student Status Rate: This indicator takes students who started 9th grade in 2003-04 and shows their status in 2007. Two measures are provided: 1) Completion/Student Status Rate shows the percent of students who graduated, received a GED, continued high school, or dropped out; and 2) Completion Rate I sums the percent of students who graduated or continued high school. The same information is given for the class of 2006. (Completion Rate II is shown for AECs rated under AEA procedures. It includes GED recipients as completers.)

Recommended HS and Distinguished Achievement Program Graduates: The report shows the percent of graduates for the classes of 2007 and 2006 who satisfied the requirements for the Texas State Board of Education Recommended High School Program or the Distinguished Achievement Program.

Texas Success Initiative (TSI) – Higher Education Readiness Component: The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) is a program to improve student success in college. This indicator shows the percent of students who scored high enough on the TAKS to be exempted from the TSI requirements.

SAT/ACT Results: The report provides four measures: (1) Tested shows the percent of graduates who took either the SAT or the ACT. (2) At/Above Criterion shows the percent of examinees who scored at or above the "Criterion Score" (criterion score is 1110 for SAT and 24 for ACT). (3) & (4) Mean SAT Score and Mean ACT Score show the average score on the SAT and ACT. Information is shown for the classes of 2007 and 2006.

School Characteristics

Class Size Averages by Grade and Subject: Class sizes are calculated from teacher class schedules. For example, the number of students in science is summed and divided by a count of the science classes. Elementary classes are shown by grade; secondary classes are shown by subject.

Number of Students per Teacher: The report shows the total number of students in membership, divided by the total number of teachers (expressed as full-time equivalents) at the school.

Instructional Staff Percent: This measure indicates the percentage of the district's full-time equivalent employees whose job function was to directly provide classroom instruction to students during the 2007-08 school year.

Instructional Expenditure Ratio: This measure shows the percent of the district's total actual expenditures for the 2006-07 fiscal year that were used to fund direct instructional activities.

Expenditures per Student: This value shows actual 2006-07 expenditures for groups of functions divided by the total number of 2006-07 students. Note that the expenditures shown are not the amount actually spent on each and every student, but rather a per-pupil average of the total. Per pupil expenditures are shown for total operating expenditures and by operating categories.

Comparisons Provided

For almost every indicator, the report shows the performance for all students in the state (State Average), the district (District Average), the school group (School Group) and the school (School - All Students). The school "group" is a set of 40 other Texas public schools that are demographically similar to this school. District and state comparisons are not shown for the expenditure information because they are not comparable to the school-level calculations.

Special Symbols

• An asterisk (*) on a TAKS indicator means that fewer than 5 students were in that classification, including zero students; an asterisk for all other indicators means that fewer than 5 students were in that classification, excluding zero students.
• For indicators other than TAKS, a dash (-) means that no students were in that category.
• n/a - means that the information is not available or not applicable.
• A question mark (?) means that the information reported is outside of a reasonable range.
• A >99% is used to mask TAKS performance that is at or near 100%; <1% is used to mask TAKS performance at or near 0%.

2007-08 School Report Cards | 2007-08 AEIS Reports | Performance Reporting