At their most recent board meeting, the Carroll ISDbrBoard of Trustees called on the Texas legislature to repeal the controversialbrA-F Accountability Rating System.
This rating system is slated to take effect at thebrbeginning of the 2017-2018 academic year. Passed during the 2015 legislature,brthe system will use five letter grade indicators to evaluate districts andbrcampuses regarding three goals: Preparing students for postsecondary success, reducingbrachievement gaps among students from different racial and ethnic groups andbrsocioeconomic backgrounds, and informing parents and the community aboutbrdistrict and campus performance.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) releasedbrpreliminary scores so that schools could review their grades and give feedback,brprompting many districts to adopt resolutions calling for a repeal of thebrgrading system. Districts believe this accountability system relies too much onbrone standardized test. Furthermore, the only grading criterion forbrpost-secondary success is the number of students who are chronically absentbrfrom campus.
TEA's accountability system has ramifications herebrat home, too. Carroll Senior High School may receive as low as a C-gradebrbecause the campus offers a variety of career and technology courses, but thebrcurriculum does not offer three or more such courses in a linear sequence.
Ultimately, CISD is striving for more autonomy tobrcraft curriculum it believes will best serve their students. CISD SchoolbrBoard's official resolution calls for the TEA to “develop a community-basedbraccountability system that empowers school districts to design their ownbrinternal systems of assessment and accountability that, while meeting generalbrstate standards, allows districts to innovate and customize curriculum andbrinstruction to meet the needs and interests of each student and theirbrcommunities.”
The A-F system is by no means set in stone: The TEAbrwill continue to make modifications through spring 2018, at which point thebrfinal rules and regulations will be solidified. As of right now, 397 schoolbrdistricts have adopted resolutions calling for repeal.
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