ATAC/APAC 2021 ACCOUNTABILITY DEVELOPMENT UPDATES AS OF OCTOBER 30, 2020

Earlier today, TEA posted the meeting materials from the October 27-28 ATAC/APAC meeting. The pdf of the materials are attached below.

Accountability experts will want to review the materials closely and consider how the proposed adjustments could possibly impact your campuses and district’s accountability ratings in 2021. Note: We will discuss these proposed changes further during the next TSA meeting on November 11.

2021 Accountability Development Update

Listed below are highlights from the posted materials:

• Data Affected: As shown in the screenshot above and on slides 6-8, TEA acknowledged that “there are significant unknowns for 2021″ that impact comparability, reliability, validity, and consistency of the data.

• STAAR Components. Rescaling Cut Points, and Closing the Gaps Targets: TEA may rescale / adjust the STAAR cut points and Closing the Gaps student group targets based on the COVID-19 slide experienced by the All Students group.

• CCMR: TEA proposed using the better overall CCMR score for the Class of 2019 or Class of 2020 (slide 11). Note: It is not clear how yesterday’s announcement regarding US Armed Forces data will or will not be used in CCMR calculations. Read TEA’s communication here.

• Academic Growth (Domain 2A): TEA states that “Agency and vendor psychometricians, as well as accountability experts, caution against the use of a two-year progress measure in 2021 accountability” (slide 15). In spite of that warning…TEA may include a 2-year growth measure that will be calculated starting at Grade 5 only if it improves the School Progress domain rating. (slide 14)

• ESSA Waivers: The Agency may submit an addendum, an amendment, and a waiver request to the USDE for adjustments made in Domains 1 and 2 (slide 19); and TEA plans to submit a waiver request for the 95% assessment participation requirement for 2021 (slide 21).

• Timeline for Decisions: The timeline on slide 23 shows the Agency publishing the ESSA addendum for public comment on December 1, 2020 with submission to USDE by January 4, 2021.

Download TEA’s ATAC/APAC materials here.