HB 521 and HB 495 – Additional Campus Mandates

 

I am requesting the House Public Education Committee oppose legislation that will require additional student assessments, additional campus committees, or additional components to campus/district plans until relief can be granted in these areas or other areas that have limited impact on the instructional process.

 

Districts and/or campuses are required to have official committee meetings to address every aspect of the school day and/or to discuss the eligibility and services for every child.  Many of the meetings are scheduled after school so as to limit the impact of teachers being out of classrooms.  Teachers are involved with after school programs, extra-curricular organizations and/or personal obligations that interfere with scheduling committee meetings outside the school day.  Each of the committees listed below require dedicated membership and dedicated meetings.  Campuses and or districts with less than 3000 students must appointment staff to serve on several of these committees due to the limited number of teachers/administrators per campus.  Districts and/or campuses are presently required to have the following “active” committees:

• LPAC/Limited English
• ARD/Special Education
• 504
• At-Risk
• Grade Placement
• Campus & District Planning
• Health
• G/T
• Discipline
• Attendance
• Campus & District Site-Base Decision Making
• Career and Technology
• Teaming
• Grade Level/Department
• Textbook
• Calendar
• AVID
• Scheduling
• Curriculum
• Strategic
• Technology

 

Campus/District Plans were once designed to identify areas of needed improvement, rather than serve as programmatic and budgetary documents that address all programs, all students and all AEIS indicators. They are now cumbersome documents, with limited value in terms of the original intent – identification of areas in need of improvement.  The following are the required components of campus and district plans.  (District and campus plans are duplications of one another in districts with single level campuses.)

• Disaggregated assessment information of all student groups, including ethnicity, socio-economic status, sex, and special programs
• Performance objectives for all AEIS Indicators:
• Attendance
• Dropout
• High School Completion
• Advanced Courses
• Recognized High School Program
• AP/AB
• TAAS/TASP Equivalency
• SAT/ACT
• Instructional methods for addressing needs of student groups not achieving full potential
• Suicide Prevention
• Conflict Resolution
• Violence Prevention
• Dyslexia Treatment
• Dropout Reduction
• Integration of Technology in instructional and administrative programs
• Discipline Management
• Staff Development
• Career Education
• Accelerated Education
• Higher Education Admissions and Financial Aid Opportunities
• Texas Grant Program
• Teach for Texas Grant Program
• Preparing students to make informed curriculum choices to be prepared for success beyond high school
• Sources of information on higher education admissions and financial aid
• Resources for all areas listed
• Staff responsibilities for all areas listed
• Time lines for all areas listed
• Formative evaluation criteria for all areas listed
• ALL Compensatory Education Expenditures – to be used in the Compensatory Education Audit Process

 

Educators of Texas support student accountability.  Excellent staff and staff training, local benchmark assessments and state grants providing funds for accelerated instruction are the reasons for the successful performance of 3^rd grade students on the new TAKS Test.   The Accelerated Reading Initiative has provided funds for districts to provide targeted instructional programs during the school day, as well as financial assistant with after school programs.  The potential loss of programs such as this will have a negative impact on the success of our students.  HB 521 proposes adding additional state assessments (5^th grade social students and 8^th grade science) which will not only create additional time away from instruction for test administration, but will limit the amount of time that districts/campuses have targeted for language arts/writing, reading and math.   The new TAKS tests are integrated tests and indirectly assess science and social studies.  In addition, HB 495 proposes that a College Preparation Achievement Assessment shall be administered in grades 8, 10 and 12.  This test will also be an integrated series of standards and curriculum-based achievement, with emphasis on reading, English, mathematics and science.

These two proposals will target another 5 to 7 days of instruction for state assessments.  This does not account for the days required for test preparation for counseling staff, testing directors, and teachers.

 

The following is a list of state required tests that are administered on all campuses.  The days indicate test administration days only, not preparation time:

 

Targeted Population	Test	Testing Days
Primary Campus
Pre-Kindergarten	STAR EL	6
	TPRI	3
Kindergarten	DRA	2
	TPRI	2
	STAR EL	3
Grade 1	DRA	3
	TPRI	3
	STAR EL	3
	STAR	3
G/T Screening for Kindergarten	MAT-8	2 days per class (9)
	Naglieri	30 minutes per class (9)
	SAGES	2 hrs per class (9)
G/T Screening for Grade 1	MAT-8	1 ½ days per class (9)
	Naglieri	30 minutes per class (9)
	SAGES	2 hrs. per class (9)
Grades PK-1	OLPT	4
PRIMARY TOTAL		68
Elementary Campus
Grade 3, 4, 5	TAKS (including field test)	6
	RPTE	1
	SDAA	3
G/T Screening for Grades 2, 3, 4, 5	Naglieri SAGES MAT-8	30
Grades 3, 4, 5	OLPT	7
ELEMENTARY TOTAL		41
Middle School Campus
Grades 6, 7, 8	SDAA	3
G/T Screening	Otils-Lennon Ability Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Metropolitan Achievement	20
Grade 7	TAKS Writing	1
	SDAA	1
Grades 6, 7, 8	RPTE - Reading Proficiency	1
Grades 6, 7, 8	TAKS Math	1
	SDAA	1
Grades 6, 7, 8	Reading	1
	SDAA	1
Grade 8	TAKS Social Studies	1
	Alternative Assessment	1
Grades 6, 7, 8	OLPT – IDEA Test	1
Grades 6, 7, 8	MAT-8 (ESL)	3
MIDDLE SCHOOL TOTAL		36
High School Campus
Grades 11 -12	TAAS Retesting	12 per year
Grades 9 – 12	RPTE (LEP)	1
Grades 9 – 12	G/T	3
Grades 11 –12	Advanced Placement	6
Grade 10	Work Keys	1
Grades 9 – 11	TAKS	6
Grade 11	PSAT	1
Grades 9 – 12	Dyslexia screening	7
HIGH SCHOOL TOTAL		37

 

The preparation days (pre and post) require an additional 48 to 50 days.  Test administrators, special program directors and / or counselors (depending on the size of the district and available staff) must schedule approximately 80 – 90 days for complying with the many mandated assessments required by Texas.

 

Please allow districts to spend our time and energy on providing exemplary instructional programs for students, rather than burdening staff with excessive committee meetings, burdensome campus/district plans, and additional, repetitive state tests.  Let us use our valuable time focusing on our most valuable asset – the children of Texas!