11.15.23
“TX Comm. of Education Mike Morath Provides Much-Needed Answers”
From Donna Garner
Here is the link to view Tex. Commissioner of Education Mike Morath’s presentation to the 15 elected members of the Texas State Board of Education on 11.15.23 – COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD – 9:00 A.M. -- https://www.adminmonitor.com/tx/tea/committee_of_the_full_board/20231115/
Also, here is the pdf link to which Commissioner Morath referred in his presentation: https://tea.texas.gov/academics/special-student-populations/special-education/overview-of-special-education-for-parents.pdf
POINT #1: A – F REPORT CARD ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
In October 2023, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) provided the Third Court of Appeals the final A – F Report Card accountability rules; and the TEA is awaiting a final judicial ruling or decisions from the 88th Legislature during the special session.
Because school district administrators need to begin planning for the next school year, the TEA is in the process of releasing publicly the 2023 “raw data” without scale scores or ratings.
On 11.14.23, the Texas Education Agency released to all public-school districts a document entitled “2022–23 Underlying Accountability Subset Data Available in TEAL” (Texas Education Agency Login).
This data shows school districts how their academic accountability data would have shaken out based on last school year’s A – F Report Card accountability rules. The data does not include scale scores nor A – F ratings but only includes the raw scores of the underlying indicators from students in the accountability subset. -- https://tea.texas.gov/about-tea/news-and-multimedia/correspondence/taa-letters/2022-23-underlying-accountability-subset-data-available-in-teal
On 11.16.23, the TEA will publicly release region-and-state-level “raw data” reports for the 2023 Accountability System; this release will NOT include scale scores nor A – F Report Card accountability ratings.
Because of federal requirements, the TEA on 11.16.23 will release the confidential (unmasked) Results-Driven Accountability (RDA) school district reports which include Special Education information. This will allow the local school district administrators to be able to begin verifying the data.
#2 – TEA’S NEW SPECIAL EDUCATION WEBSITE LAUNCH
Comm. Morath shared with the 15 elected, SBOE members that a brand new, super website will soon be launched by the TEA – “Texas SPED Report.”
Here is the link to the new website -- “Texas SPED Report.” -- https://spedsupport.tea.texas.gov/
This is a huge undertaking by the TEA; and its sole purpose is to make sure that all of the confusing, complicated, federal education terminology about Special Education is presented in an easily understood, parent-friendly/family-friendly manner.
WEBSITE: TEXAS SPED REPORT CONTAINS SUCH SECTIONS AS:
- Specific training resources
- Collections of SPED resources for all types of disabilities
- List of local SPED experts across Texas
- SPED timelines for students, parents, and educators
- Filtering capabilities by specific topics
- Acronyms explained in common, everyday language
- Graphic images, charts, simplified steps in the process, timelines
- Website – Spanish and English
Comm. Morath emphasized that the public needs to make use of this phone number set up at the Texas Education Agency to help parents with their questions about SPED – 1-855-SPEDTEX (1-855-773-3839).
#3 – QUESTIONS BY TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS
Each of the 15 SBOE members was given the chance to ask Comm. Morath questions. Please go to marker 3:31:44 to view their questions along with Comm. Morath’s answers.
11.15.23 – COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD – 9:00 A.M. – MARKER 6:07.31 --
https://www.adminmonitor.com/tx/tea/committee_of_the_full_board/20231115/