LGISD Board Joins Call To Repeal Rating System

Monday La Grange Independent School District joined districts across Texas calling for a repeal of the A-F school accountability rating system. According to the Texas Association of School Administrators’ (TASA) website as of Monday, Jan. 23, 358 school districts have passed a resolution calling for a repeal of the proposed accountability system. 

The board approved a resolution at the meeting on Jan. 23 concerning the A-F accountability rating system for Texas public schools. 

The resolution calls on the Texas Legislature to repeal the A-F letter-grade school district rating system that will be implemented in the 2017-18 school year as part of House Bill 2804, passed by the Legislature in 2015.

The resolution notes that, despite A-F systems being implemented in 16 other states, there is no evidence that these systems have helped improve student or school performance. It points out that the majority of the grade assigned by the A-F rating system will be based on students’ scores on the STAAR, a standardized test viewed as unreliable for accurately measuring student learning and that an overwhelming majority of Texans recently surveyed by the State Board of Education have said they do not want standardized test scores to serve as the primary basis for Texas’ school accountability system.

The resolution also claims flaws of the A-F system: They require a complex set of rules and calculations to combine a multitude of disparate measures into a single “simple” letter grade that cannot be supported with explanation, are useless for providing feedback that could be used for improvement, and usually align with the wealth or poverty of the students in the school. The resolution offers an alternative to the A-F rating system: development of a community-based accountability system that empowers districts to design their own systems of assessment and accountability that, while meeting general state standards, allows innovation and customization to match the needs and interests of the local community.