Dual standards create challenges for school districts

With more importance being placed on meeting both federal and state standardized testing requirements, and as those requirements become more stringent, 71 percent of school districts statewide including Conroe ISD, are struggling to meet minimum passing rates.

In August, results of the Adequate Yearly Progress federal education program were announced, which CISD did not pass. That resulted in three campuses receiving Stage 1 designation, allowing students the ability to transfer out of those schools.

Despite missing the AYP mark, CISD has been considered a successful district by state standards.

"The challenge with AYP is that we work under two systems," CISD Superintendent Don Stockton said. "It makes it challenging just from the standpoint of knowing the requirements of each."

Stockton said CISD missing AYP standards is primarily a result of the increasing minimum requirements of the program.

AYP vs. AEIS

Unlike AYP, the state's Academic Excellence Indicator System report does not give campuses or districts pass or fail designations. Instead, campuses and districts are given an accountability rating, such as Academically Acceptable, Recognized or Exemplary, based on several indicators. The state is currently revamping its accountability ratings system as schools transitioned from TAKS testing to STAAR testing in 2012.

Although CISD scored high by AYP standards in English/language arts and math in 2012, a district can only achieve a passing status if all student group subsections, such as ethnicity, socio-economic status, special education and limited English proficiency, meet minimum standards. For 2011–12, AYP required students in all groups to pass ELA with an 87 percent passing rate and math with an 83 percent rate.

According to the 2012 AYP report, 81 percent of CISD African Americans met STAAR math standards. Of special education students, 82 percent met ELA standards and 77 percent met math standards, all of which resulted in Conroe ISD missing the AYP. Applying those same standards to state requirements, the district would have achieved a Recognized rating in those categories.

"Conroe ISD or any of our campuses did not miss AYP due to attendance rate or graduation rate," said Lisa Meeks, district spokesperson. "Conroe ISD exceeded the graduation rate with 92.5 percent of our students graduating in four years."

Meeks said the district's teachers did an "exceptional job" of preparing students for what she described as a more complex, lengthy and time-driven test.

The last year the ratings were provided, 2010-11, Conroe ISD achieved a Recognized rating. That year, 94 percent of all students met the reading/English/language arts requirements, while 91 percent met the math requirements.

Had those same results been applied to the 2012-13 AYP standards, which require 93 percent of all students passing ELA and 92 percent of students passing math, Conroe ISD would fail AYP.

Stockton said he is "absolutely" in favor of utilizing only one set of standardized testing requirements.

School transfers

Federal law allows students who attend perpetually underperforming schools to transfer to another campus, even though many Texas school districts, such as Conroe ISD, do not utilize a school choice program.

Although the number of transfers at CISD and throughout the state are relatively low, as requirements increase, education officials believe the flood gates could soon open. AYP mandates state that districts that have Stage 1 schools must offer to parents and students of those campuses the choice to attend at least two other district schools.

"As more and more districts fail [Adequate Yearly Progress] and fail it for multiple years, more students will have this option available," said Debbie Ratcliffe, spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency.

For the first time Conroe ISD has seen campuses fall under the Stage 1 title— Grangerland Intermediate, Travis Intermediate and Austin Elementary. According to the district, 15 students transferred from Travis, one transferred from Austin and no students transferred from Grangerland. According to the TEA, in 2011 Grangerland received a Recognized rating and Travis and Austin received an Academically Acceptable rating. Statewide 2,270 of the 135,666 students who became eligible to transfer schools under AYP did so.

Adequate Yearly Progress was established under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and, similar to the state's Academic Excellence Indicator System, creates a minimum standard requirement that combines testing results, graduation rates, attendance rates and a variety of other indicators.

"The AYP has an additional challenge in that by 2014, the expectation is 100 percent [passing rates]," Stockton said. "That's a huge challenge and we've been very pleased with our progress, but the challenge now is to continue with those big leaps. We had a year where we improved and still didn't pass."

Meeks said she believes when minimum AYP passing rates reach 100 percent in 2014, the majority of schools in Texas could become Stage 1 schools.

"If [that] were to occur," the number of transfers would increase," she said

School choice

As the nation's education system moves toward more school choice options, the issue of whether or not students should have the ability to attend whichever school they choose, and the effectiveness of school choice, is a hotly debated issue.

According to the Harvard Graduate School of Education and its analysis of nine studies regarding choice initiatives, "school choice programs which allow parents to select the schools their children attend deepen educational inequality and fail to yield consistent learning gains."

The American Federation for Children backs school choice. Its members believe many students in low- and middle-class families are not provided the same opportunities, are trapped in failing schools and should be allowed to choose which school they attend.

State Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring, said the issue will be among those discussed during the 83rd Texas Legislature beginning in January.

"The school choice [vouchers] issue will be vigorously debated next session. Sen. [Dan] Patrick has said it will be a priority, the governor and lieutenant governor have also expressed an interest in moving the issue forward," Harless said.