Reflections on Ten Years of “Texas-style” Accountability

Texas Accountability in the Courts and Classroom: A Lawyer and Advocate Perspective

By Albert H. Kauffman

A 25-Year Look at Student Attrition:  Texas’ Widening GapsBy Angela Valenzuela

The Bankruptcy of the Standards-Based School Reform Movement: The Need for Systemic Transformations

By Richard R. Valencia

The Public’s Schools and Our ChildrenBy Linda McSpadden McNeil

Texas Accountability in the Courts and Classroom:

A Lawyer and Advocate Perspective

Albert H. Kauffman, Ph.D.

Graphs courtesy of Dr. Walt Haney, Boston College, The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education, EPAA Archives Volume 8, Number 41, Aug 19, 2000

Overview

• Negative effect on minority students• Negative effect on schools• Misuse of tests• Problems with tests themselves• Litigation GI Forum v. TEA (W.D. Tex. 2000)• Legislationo 2001o 2009o Future

Projected Passing Rates on TAAS at Time Cut-Off Scores Set in 1990

Math Test

Number of Items

Percent of Items Black Hispanic White Total

36 60% 43% 50% 68% 59%

42 70% 27% 33% 50% 42%

Cumulative Rates of Grade Promotion1996-97

Grade White Black Hispanic

1 to 3 93.22% 88.13% 88.33%

4 to 6 97.72% 95.76% 95.37%

7 to 8 97.12% 94.28% 93.41%

9 to 12 81.22% 57.57% 56.11%

All 12 grades 71.86% 45.81% 44.15%

Increase in Holding Students in Grade 9 1977 to 1999

A 25-Year Look at Student Attrition:Texas’ Widening Gaps

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Attrition and Dropout Rates in Texas Over Time

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1985

-86

1987

-88

1989

-90

1991

-92

1993

-94

1995

-96

1997

-98

1999

-00

2001

-02

2003

-04

2005

-06

2007

-08

2009

-10

School Year

Rat

e

IDRA Attrition Rates

TEA Long. Dropout Rates

TEA Annual Dropout Rates

Source: Intercultural Development Research Association, 2010.

Attrition Rates in Texas Public Schools by Year 1985-86 to 2009-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1985

-86

1986

-87

1987

-88

1988

-89

1989

-90

1990

-91

1991

-92

1992

-93

1993

-94

1994

-95

1995

-96

1996

-97

1997

-98

1998

-99

1999

-00

2000

-01

2001

-02

2002

-03

2003

-04

2004

-05

2005

-06

2006

-07

2007

-08

2008

-09

2009

-10

School Year

Rat

e

Black

White

Hispanic

Total

Source: Intercultural Development Research Association, 2010.

Longitudinal Attrition Rates by Race-Ethnicity in Texas Public Schools, 1985-86 to 2009-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1985

-86

1987

-88

1989

-90

1991

-92

1993

-94

1995

-96

1997

-98

1999

-00

2001

-02

2003

-04

2005

-06

2007

-08

2009

-10

School Year

Rat

e

Native American

Asian/Pacif ic Islander

Black

White

Hispanic

Total

Source: Intercultural Development Research Association, 2010.

The Bankruptcy of the Standards-Based School Reform Movement:

The Need for Systemic Transformations

Richard R. Valencia, Ph.D.

Source: Valencia, R.R. (Ed.). (2011). Chicano school failure and success: Past, present, and future (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Table 1.5

Percentage of Students by Ethnicity, Who Met the TAKSa Standard in 2008:

Sum of All Grades Tested _________________________________________________________________________________________________

TAKS Indicator White Chicano/Latino W-C/L Gap African American W-AA Gap (%) (%) (% pts.) (%) (% pts.) _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reading/ELAb 96 87 9 87 9

Mathematics 89 75 14 69 20

Writing 96 91 5 90 6

Science 87 66 21 61 26

Social Studies 96 88 8 87 9

All Tests 84 65 19 58 26

_________________________________________________________________________________________________Source: Texas Education Agency (2008, p.11).Notes: aTAKS = Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills; b ELA = English language Arts.

Source: Valencia, R.R. (Ed.). (2011). Chicano school failure and success: Past, present, and future (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Source: Valencia, R.R. (Ed.). (2011). Chicano school failure and success: Past, present, and future (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Critique of the Standards-BasedSchool Reform Movement

• It leads to measurement-driven instruction (i.e., “teaching to the test”)

• It fails to use multiple sources of assessment data

• It has adverse impact on students of color

• Is is structurally misdirected

Students of Color and the Achievement Gap: Systemic Challenges, Systemic

Transformations(book in progress)I. Macrolevel-Factors

• The Wages Gap• The Housing Gap• The Health Gap

II. Mesolevel-Factors• School Desegregation, Desegregation, and Integration• School Financing• Teacher Quality• Language Suppression and Cultural Suppression• Curriculum Differentiation

III. Microlevel-Factors• Parental Involvement and Empowerment• Student Agency and Empowerment

The Public’s Schools and Our Children

Linda McSpadden McNeil, Ph.D.

OUR FINDINGS

LOSSES

• Texas loses 135,000 youth from our schools every year

• High-stakes test-based accountability has not reduced this number.

• The study found that 60 percent of the African American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80 percent of ESL students did not graduate within five years.

Students as Assets or Liabilities to Their Schools

• School ratings based on test scores rise when weaker students leave

• The accountability system rewards principals and schools that "lose” low-achieving students

• Thus the accountability system rewards triaging out weaker students

• African American, Latino, and English Language Learner students are triaged out in greater numbers

“Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability

and the Dropout Crisis”by

Linda McSpadden McNeil, Eileen Coppola, Judy Radigan, and Julian Vasquez-Heilig.

Education Policy Analysis Archives, vol. 16, 3 (January 2008).

What About the ELLs? The State’s Shortcomings in English

Language Learner Accountability

David Hinojosa, Esq.