What you need to know
Mary Kennington—CISD director of accountability, assessment and multitiered systems of support—gave an update on testing and accountability in regard to the recent State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness redesign by the Texas Education Agency. Kennington said the 2022 and 2023 tests are “comparable to apples and oranges” with the most recent version requiring students to achieve a lower percentage of correct answers on test scores than the year prior. She explained because the tests use different methodologies, the 2022 and 2023 scores cannot be compared side by side because it's possible for campus improvements to not be accurately reflected in these ratings. Additionally, because of the TEA delaying the release of 2023 accountability ratings until October or November, this will cause delays for the remaining school year.
Notably, the Texas Academic Performance Report will be released in early March as opposed to mid-December, and both school and federal report cards will be released in late March as opposed to mid-January.
A closer look
Chief Operations Officer Chris Trotter also discussed safety and security updates, noting the district is partnering with the Dallas County Sheriff's Office to provide alert training, an eight-hour program for school officers to be hosted in November or December.
Campus walkthroughs will also be conducted with newly hired firefighters and first responders so they are able to navigate the district buildings. Trotter added campus principals have the ability to add tornado and lockdown drills—in addition to fire drills—throughout the school year.
The TEA delays could potentially have an impact on the approved campus improvement plans, which are assessed for each school in the district. The district assesses each campus annually based on factors such as demographics and staffing to determine which areas of weakness need to be addressed. For example, this year, Coppell High School will put $30,000 toward intervention materials and additional tutoring resources.
Quote of note
“There is a need to strengthen our recruiting, hiring, mentoring and retention system to keep individuals wanting to work and stay in public education. Retention rates have lowered in public education in Coppell in the past few years due to the lack of respect for public educators and quality pay for educators,” Coppell High School Principal Laura Springer said.
