Posted 11:57 pm Thursday, December 13, 2012
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Lindale ISD wins appeal with Texas Education Agency
Staff Reports
Lindale ISD won an appeal with the Texas Education Agency for 2012 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results, according to a news release.
AYP is the federally mandated accountability system required by the No Child Left Behind Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. All public school districts, campuses and the state are evaluated for AYP.
Preliminary results indicated Velma Penny Elementary School was the only campus to not meet AYP standards. Lindale ISD requested TEA reconsider the mathematics performance indicator for Velma Penny because the grades served by the campus during the 2011-2012 school year had been reconfigured, according to the release.
Before 2011, Velma Penny served third and fourth grade students, but in August 2011, the campus changed to serve grades one through three, the release stated.
In a notification letter to LISD, Commissioner of Education Michael L. Williams wrote, "After careful agency review, the miscommunication with TEA staff may have had an impact on the district decisions. For this reason, the mathematics performance indicator appeal has been granted."
Following the granted appeal, all campuses and the district have met the federal accountability standard.
"I am very proud that our appeal was granted," Lindale ISD Superintendent Stan Surratt said. "Velma Penny Elementary now has a rating that properly represents the wonderful success of the campus. Every campus and the district met AYP, and we are very proud to meet that level of achievement."
For a campus or district to meet AYP, passing percentages must be met by students in each sub-population: all students, African-American, Hispanic, white, economically disadvantaged, special education and limited English proficient, according to the release.
"We hope there will be changes to both the state and federal accountability system," Surratt said in the release. "Our new commissioner has indicated that our state system will become fairer and hopefully the federal AYP system will be changed as well. AYP was once beneficial but that is not the case anymore. The AYP rating system has become an unrealistic and broken system. It needs drastic change."
In the spring of 2012, AYP primarily focused on the performance of students in third through eighth grades on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test (STAAR), and junior's performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test (TAKS). Both tests assessed the performance of students in math and reading/English Language Arts, according to the release.
The federal standards were raised in 2012, requiring a higher percentage of students pass state assessment tests in math and reading/English-language arts, according to the release. In 2011, 75 percent of students in third through eighth and 10th grades were required to pass math for a campus or district to meet AYP. In 2012, the percentage was raised to 83 percent in math. In 2011, 80 percent of students were required to pass reading/ELA to meet AYP. The percentage was raised to 87 percent in 2012.
