State exceptions inflate Hidalgo County schools' performance ratings

The Mercedes school district celebrated when new accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency put it in the second-to-best category Friday.

But Interim Superintendent Mauro Vasquez Jr. didn’t let the congratulations last very long.

“Don’t pat yourself on the back too long or pound yourself on the chest too often,” Vasquez said. “We celebrate a little bit, but let’s recognize that this rating is not the real factor.”

Vasquez referred to the fact that among his district’s eight qualifying campuses, four received a higher-than-expected rating thanks to a state formula that has prompted widespread criticism for the way it cushions low-performing schools and districts.

Each year, TEA considers rates for standardized testing, dropouts and graduation when ranking schools as “exemplary,” “recognized,” “academically acceptable” or “academically unacceptable.”

When test rates fall below “absolute standards,” the Texas Projection Measure formula can still grant success if its “multi-level regression-based projection model” projects that failing students will pass in the future.

The measure offers what the TEA describes on its website as “an alternate approach to demonstrating achievement that meets state goals.” The agency says the measure estimates whether a student is likely to pass TAKS assessments in the next “high-stakes grade” — grades five, seven, eight and 11. The seventh-grade projection is limited to writing.

The measure takes into account the student’s current performance on TAKS, the student’s previous-year performance in the subject of interest, and the TAKS scores of all students at the campus the student attends. A student projected to meet the standard in the next high-stakes grade is considered to have met the improvement standard, and the student’s score can then be used to elevate a campus or district rating to the next higher level.

Vasquez, whose district rated “recognized,” said projected success did not amount to much.

“When you’re talking about the potential, how many people die holding onto potential?” he asked. “Let’s talk about what we’ve done rather than what we’re expected to do.”

According to TEA’s accountability summary, the projection measure and other exceptions based on actual gains and other data drastically boosted the appearance of good performance in Hidalgo County schools.

Only 104 of the county’s 246 qualifying schools received their rating based on absolute standards, while the other 142 were boosted by state formulas.

In the Weslaco school system, such exceptions helped nine out of 16 schools receive “exemplary” or “recognized” ratings.

Superintendent Richard Rivera acknowledged the projection measure benefited his district but said it is something he personally dislikes.

“Either you pass the tests or you don’t,” Rivera said. “The projection measure inflates the scores, and those who are supposedly passing never did. There’s no in-between.”

Following widespread criticism of the projection measure, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott has floated some solutions.

Among many ideas, Scott has proposed eliminating it altogether — though plans hold it in place for 2011’s ratings — or allowing districts to opt out of projection measure consideration.

If given the chance, Vasquez and Rivera both said, their districts likely would opt out, but Sharyland schools Superintendent Scott Owings opposed complicating the rating system even more.

“It’s a silly thing,” Owings said. “It should be one way for everybody.

“I’d prefer not to have it for the accountability ratings but somehow use it for federal improvement requirements,” he added.

Out of 10 “exemplary” campuses in the Sharyland district, six got a projection-measure boost.

Owings, Rivera and Vasquez all said they would increase pressure for improvement at all campuses, projection-measure-based or not, and would aim for high ratings next year without any exceptions.

Meanwhile, larger implications abound when schools effectively evade an “academically unacceptable” rating, said Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, a vocal opponent of the projection measure.

In Hidalgo County, the state’s formulas lumped eight schools it would have labeled “academically unacceptable” with 27 others that earned a standards-based rating of “academically acceptable.”

Hochberg, who serves as vice chair of the Texas House Committee on Public Education, said such promotions worked against the very nature of an accountability system.

“Absolutely, I worry about the kids at these schools,” Hochberg said. “I don’t think you can solve a problem if you’re hiding it.”

“Not only are students shortchanged,” he said. “Frankly, educators who work very hard to meet the legitimate goals, their success is diminished when others can essentially get the same ratings.”

Until the education commission retools its formulas, Hochberg urged parents and administrators to openly discuss the results and see what actually occurred in a school versus what was reported.

Campuses that would have been “academically unacceptable” without state exceptions are Guzman Elementary in Donna, Mercedes Early College Academy, John F. Kennedy Elementary and North Elementary in Mercedes, and Dr. Javier Saenz Middle School and Leo J. Leo Elementary in La Joya.

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Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956)314-0896.