Texas
College and Career Readiness for All Students
"The higher the standards that are targeted, the clearer it becomes that the only way to take the students to those standards is early intervention and a long-term focus on improving the fundamentals of teaching and learning. Setting lower standards and targeting short-term incremental test score gains, on the other hand, often tempts educators into shortsighted 'quick-fix' practices."
2008 NCEA Higher Performing Analysis Frequently Asked Questions
1. My school is not on the Just for the Kids Higher Performing list. How do I know if my school was one of those that were not included in the analysis?
The following categories of schools were not included in the analysis:
- New schools. NCEA's analysis required three years of test results—for 2006, 2007, and 2008. Therefore, schools that opened more recently than fall of 2005 do not have enough data to be included in the analysis.
- Schools with no tested grades. For example, a PreK-2 school would have no tested grades.
- Schools with too few Continuously Enrolled students. This could be due to one or more of these reasons:
- Small school size.
- High student mobility.
- Schools with too many missing test scores. Schools with grades having more than 20% of test results deleted (due to the way data was provided by the state agency) were dropped from the analysis.
For a more complete description of the detailed methods used in the analysis, or to find out if your school was included in the analysis, please select the appropriate methodology listed at the bottom of the page.
2. How is this year's approach different from last year's?
This year’s Just for the Kids Higher Performing Schools lists include separate lower elementary and upper elementary grade lists. The elementary grades were separated, because growth was included in the fourth and fifth grade analysis, but not in the third grade analysis.
3. My school is Exemplary (or Recognized). Why is it not on the list of higher performing schools?
The Just for the Kids Higher Performing lists are a more select group of schools. Sixty-eight percent of elementary schools, 30% of middle schools, and 14% of high schools were identified as Recognized or Exemplary in 2008. In comparison, the National Center for Education Achievement analysis deemed 20% of elementary, 16% of middle, and 7% of high schools to be high performing.
There are several reasons why the specific metrics used in the National Center for Education Achievement analysis were different from those used in Texas's accountability system. Texas's accountability ratings are based on the percentage of students meeting the state's passing standard on TAKS. By contrast, the National Center for Educational Achievement analysis for upper elementary, middle, and high school grades examined academic growth—how they performed last year—Did they have above-typical growth based on student and school demographics? For lower elementary grades, the analysis was based on students' actual scale scores on the test, not just on whether they passed. Thus, the analysis took into account the range of performance and improvement of students who were performing well above or below the passing level.
In addition, the second measure used to qualify schools—their percentage of students reaching NCEA's college and career readiness benchmark—also did not rely on the state's passing standard.
Third, the Just for Kids Higher Performing list is based on three years of data—for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 school years. State ratings are based on a single year of data.
4. How can I get more information about the methodology used for identifiying Just for the Kids Higher Performing Schools?
Click one of the following for more information about the methodology.