Reflections on Ten Years of “Texas-style” Accountability

2. Reflections on Ten Years of “Texas-style” Accountability • Texas Accountability in the Courts and Classroom: A Lawyer and Advocate Perspective • By Albert H. Kauffman • A 25-Year Look at Student Attrition:  Texas’ Widening Gaps • By Angela Valenzuela • The Bankruptcy of the Standards-Based School Reform Movement: The Need for Systemic Transformations • By Richard R. Valencia • The Public’s Schools and Our Children • By Linda McSpadden McNeil

3. Texas Accountability in the Courts and Classroom: A Lawyer and Advocate Perspective Albert H. Kauffman, Ph.D. Graphs courtesy of Dr. Walt Haney, Boston College, The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education, EPAA Archives Volume 8, Number 41, Aug 19, 2000

4. Overview • Negative effect on minority students • Negative effect on schools • Misuse of tests • Problems with tests themselves • Litigation GI Forum v. TEA (W.D. Tex. 2000) • Legislation • 2001 • 2009 • Future

5. Projected Passing Rates on TAAS at Time Cut-Off Scores Set in 1990Math Test

6. Cumulative Rates of Grade Promotion 1996-97

7. Increase in Holding Students in Grade 9 1977 to 1999

8. A 25-Year Look at Student Attrition: Texas’ Widening Gaps Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

12. The Bankruptcy of the Standards-Based School Reform Movement: The Need for Systemic Transformations Richard R. Valencia, Ph.D.

13. Source: Valencia, R.R. (Ed.). (2011). Chicano school failure and success: Past, present, and future (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

14. Table 1.5 Percentage of Students by Ethnicity, Who Met the TAKSa Standard in 2008: Sum of All Grades Tested   _________________________________________________________________________________________________ TAKS Indicator White Chicano/Latino W-C/L Gap African American W-AA Gap (%) (%) (% pts.) (%) (% pts.)   _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Reading/ELAb 96 87 9 87 9 Mathematics 89 75 14 69 20 Writing 96 91 5 90 6 Science 87 66 21 61 26 Social Studies 96 88 8 87 9 All Tests 84 65 19 58 26 _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Source: Texas Education Agency (2008, p.11). Notes:aTAKS = Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills; bELA = English language Arts. Source: Valencia, R.R. (Ed.). (2011). Chicano school failure and success: Past, present, and future (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

15. Source: Valencia, R.R. (Ed.). (2011). Chicano school failure and success: Past, present, and future (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

16. Critique of the Standards-Based School Reform Movement • It leads to measurement-driven instruction (i.e., “teaching to the test”) • It fails to use multiple sources of assessment data • It has adverse impact on students of color • Is is structurally misdirected

17. Students of Color and the Achievement Gap: Systemic Challenges, Systemic Transformations(book in progress) • I. Macrolevel-Factors • • The Wages Gap • • The Housing Gap • • The Health Gap • II. Mesolevel-Factors • • School Desegregation, Desegregation, and Integration • • School Financing • • Teacher Quality • • Language Suppression and Cultural Suppression • • Curriculum Differentiation III. Microlevel-Factors • • Parental Involvement and Empowerment • • Student Agency and Empowerment

18. The Public’s Schools and Our Children Linda McSpadden McNeil, Ph.D.

19. OUR FINDINGS • LOSSES • Texas loses 135,000 youth from our schools every year • High-stakes test-based accountability has not reduced this number. • The study found that 60 percent of the African American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80 percent of ESL students did not graduate within five years.

20. Students as Assets or Liabilities to Their Schools • School ratings based on test scores rise when weaker students leave • The accountability system rewards principals and schools that "lose” low-achieving students • Thus the accountability system rewards triaging out weaker students • African American, Latino, and English Language Learner students are triaged out in greater numbers

21. “Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis” by Linda McSpadden McNeil, Eileen Coppola, Judy Radigan, and Julian Vasquez-Heilig. Education Policy Analysis Archives, vol. 16, 3 (January 2008).

23. What About the ELLs? The State’s Shortcomings in English Language Learner Accountability David Hinojosa, Esq.