By Kathryn Kelman/editor-in-chief
All of TCC’s early college high schools received A-level scores in the Texas Education Agency’s campus accountability ratings released Aug. 15.
Mansfield’s TCC High School at Timberview was one of the two highest-scoring campuses in Tarrant County with a 98 score.
Arlington Collegiate High School, Marine Creek Collegiate High School and Fort Worth’s Texas Academy of Biomedical Science all received 97s while the Grapevine-Colleyville Collegiate Academy and South’s Early College High School received 94s.
At the TCC board of trustees meeting Aug. 16, board president Louise Appleman praised all the employees and students of each of the early college high schools for their work.
“Thanks to all of you who were a part of that accomplishment,” she said.
State education commissioner Mike Morath lauded the top performers.
“Achieving an A rating reflects the hard work and commitment of everyone within a school district, starting with our classroom teacher,” he said in a press release.
The grades are part of the new A-F Public School Accountability System and are based primarily on results of the 2018 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR tests, and the end-of-course exams.
For 2018, the campuses received numerical grades on a scale of 0-100 that correlated to the A-F letter grades. An “A” grade is the highest rating and represents exemplary work while an “F” grade is an unacceptable rating.
Domains, which are student achievement, student progress and efforts to close achievement gaps, are used to calculate the A-F ratings.
The formula for the new system also credits schools and districts for college and career readiness, including students completing dual credit, earning associate degrees or industry certification.
The new grading system was established and adjusted over the last two Texas legislative sessions and, despite backlash from some school districts, is expected to be fully implemented in 2019.
Prior to this year, the state’s accountability system only gave campuses and school districts one of two ratings, which were “met standard” or “improvement required.”
The new system will rank school districts and campuses on an A-F scale instead.
Morath said he believes the new system is a significant improvement over the prior system as it compares districts and schools with similar poverty rates so high-poverty campuses with lower grades won’t be penalized.
The system evaluates districts on student achievement, school progress and closing the achievement gap affecting low-income students, according to Morath.
“The idea that you can provide clear summative information to parents is a huge win for parents,” he said. “The idea that the design of the system was meant to highlight both high levels of student achievement and high levels of educator impact makes this essentially the fairest system in the state of Texas.”
School report cards can be viewed at TXschools.org.
