Representatives from both districts said new rules forcing special education students and/or limited English students to take tests specific to their grade level have impacted their AYP status.
“The challenge for Belton ISD, and for all Texas public schools, is to satisfy the conflicting measures of accountability required by two separate systems,” said Darrell Becker, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Belton. “All schools in Belton ISD have been rated either recognized or academically acceptable by the state of Texas. The federal system is different, and we fell short in the area of special education student performance.”
Within the Belton ISD, which was rated as “missing AYP,” students at Belton High School, Belton Middle School and Lake Belton Middle School failed to meet standards. All eight elementary schools in the district and Waskow High School met AYP standards.
According to the TEA, schools in Texas are rated based on TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) performance in reading and math for grades third through eighth and 10th, and graduation and attendance rates.
To earn a “meets AYP” label schools and districts had to test at least 95 percent of their students, with at least 60 percent of the students passing reading or language arts and 50 percent passing math. High schools and districts also had to achieve a graduation rate of at least 70 percent for the 2007 graduating class, and elementary and middle schools had to have at least a 90 percent attendance rate.
BHS and Lake Belton Middle School did not meet reading and math standards, while students at Belton Middle School did not meet math standards.
Prior to 2008, special education students and limited English students took tests based on their individual instruction level; however, students must now pass tests specific to their grade level. For example, a student enrolled in 10th grade that has a learning disability and functions at a lower grade level for reading now must pass the 10th grade edition of the TAKS.
The federal accountability is similar to the TEA’s own rating system, which places students into subgroups depending upon their ethnicity and economic status, except for the inclusion of the special education and limited English students. The TEA rated both the Belton and Temple school districts as “academically acceptable” earlier this year.
“To rate an entire campus as ‘not meeting AYP’ can be deceiving,” Becker said. “Our overall performance shows that more students are achieving academic success. We certainly have room to improve, but students are making progress in our schools.”
Becker said the Belton ISD had about 4,000 students tested for federal standards last year, with about 535 students who are labeled as special education students. Becker said the district missed meeting AYP by 12 students.
“The state and federal systems do not match, and the NCLB system is basically flawed,” Belton school superintendent Dr. Vivian Baker said.
“Common sense tells us that testing students with an arbitrary single standard of proficiency that is too high for some students with disabilities and too low for others does not accurately measure the success of an entire school. Many factors of NCLB impose standards that assess schools on things beyond their control,” Dr. Baker said.
There are special TAKS tests setup to accommodate special education students, which includes the TAKS-Alternate (TAKS-Alt) and TAKS-Modified (TAKS–M) tests, but Becker said there are limits on the number of students a district can allow to take the tests.
One test designed for students who are severely cognitively impaired can only be taken by 1 percent of the students in the district, while there is a 2 percent cap on another test designed for those who are not as severely impaired, but still suffer from disabilities.
“The percentages of students allowed to take (the specialized tests) do not accurately represent the number of special education students within many districts,” Becker said.
Within the Temple district, Temple High School and all three middle schools - Lamar, Travis and Bonham - as well as Jefferson Elementary and Hector P. Garcia Elementary missed AYP standards.
Schools that met AYP included Cater Elementary, Scott Elementary, Thornton Elementary, Western Hills Elementary, Meridith-Dunbar Elementary, Raye-Allen Elementary and Kennedy-Powell Elementary.
“We certainly knew some of the students would have problems taking the (regular) tests,” Temple assistant superintendent of curriculum J.J. Villareal said. “We just don’t have the same testing options any more.”
THS, Lamar and Travis Middle Schools failed to meet math and reading standards, while Bonham Middle School, Hector P. Garcia and Jefferson Elementary failed to meet math standards.
“The assumption is that all students are the same, and that’s just not the case,” said Villareal, who went on to say the ratings do not properly reflect the work of staff within the district.
“I don’t disapprove of accountability measures,” Villareal said. “But it’s hard to say that a student taking a test maybe one day out of the year can be used to accurately assess the performance (of a district).”
Both districts said they plan on improving their AYP status by looking at ways to improve curriculum.
“We have been making an effort to specifically improve our curriculum to meet the expectations of the state to meet all of the objectives we’re held accountable to,” Villareal said.
Belton also is analyzing its approach to the teaching and testing of special education students to meet the NCLB requirements.
“We are committed to our students’ academic success,” Becker said.
There are no sanctions for the first year of not meeting AYP. Districts or schools must miss AYP in consecutive years, in the same subjects or areas, to face improvement status.
Districts or schools under improvement status must implement improvement plans, or face other measures depending on the number of times they miss AYP. This is the first year the Belton district has not met AYP standards, Dr. Baker said.
The Temple ISD previously missed AYP in 2004.
Seventy-five percent of Texas schools and 66 percent of districts met AYP.
Among local districts, the following did not meet AYP: Academy ISD, Moody ISD, Rogers ISD and Troy ISD.
Among local districts meeting AYP were: Bartlett ISD, Granger ISD, Holland ISD and Salado ISD.
dfearson@temple-telegram.com
