Measuring schools, but without math
Achievement should always be honored, and schools across Tarrant County and statewide measured enough achievement in the 2014-15 school year for hearty commendation.
Every district in Tarrant County earned passing marks in the statewide accountability ratings announced Friday by the Texas Education Agency. Statewide, 94.4 percent of districts and charter schools achieved the “met standard” rating.
But accountability rating systems are not built solely for handing out pats on the back. They also focus attention on where more work or better education strategies are required.
And more work is needed, both in Tarrant County schools and across Texas.
Most glaringly, this year’s accountability ratings do not include measures of student performance in math in grades three through eight.
Education Commissioner Michael Williams decided in April that new math requirements in those grades were just too tough for schools and students to handle right away, so he gave schools a pass on being held responsible for test grades.
The State Board of Education approved a new math curriculum in 2012, the first time it had done so in 13 years. The new curriculum was set to go into effect in 2014-15.
But parents complained and Williams relented, saying 2014-15 would be “a transition year” for math standards.
He’s done that sort of thing before, much to the chagrin of the Texas Association of Business, which has pushed for rigorous standards to achieve a better-educated workforce.
Wherever you stand in that debate, for rigorous standards or not, it simply is not a good measure of school performance if you leave out math.
Math standards should be returned to the accountability system in the coming school year.
As for this year’s overall ratings, 21 campuses in Fort Worth were handed ratings of “improvement required.” Essentially, in a pass-fail measure, they failed.
Statewide, 86.4 percent of campuses were rated “met standard” and 7.1 percent “improvement required.” The rest were not rated.
Recent changes in the statewide accountability system have incorporated new measures aimed at determining whether schools that haven’t yet reached the acceptable performance bar are at least making progress toward it.
Most of the low-rated Fort Worth schools are making progress, interim Superintendent Pat Linares said. That includes all but one of the 19 elementary schools rated “improvement required.”
Student achievement, she said, is “moving in the right direction.”
Hard work made that happen, but until the goal is reached, more hard work is required.
This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Measuring schools, but without math."