Monday, December 14, 2015
Dec. 14, 2015
Commissioner Williams’
statement regarding the appointment of Mike Morath
Thursday, December 10, 2015
New Information from Commissioner Michael Williams
Dec. 9, 2015
Statement of Commissioner Michael Williams regarding passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act
AUSTIN – Commissioner of Education Michael Williams issued the following statement regarding today’s final passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) by the U.S. Senate:
"The Every Student Succeeds Act represents a significant shift in education authority away from the federal government and a return of greater control to the state and local level. For Texas, this legislation brings an end to the ongoing requests for federal waivers made necessary by requirements few if any states could ever meet.
"The Texas Education Agency will now focus on working through the specific details of this federal legislation to help explain to our districts and charters the many aspects included in this bill. It’s important to note that the rollout of our state’s new teacher and principal evaluation systems will continue, but without federal demands to include student test scores as a mandatory aspect."
Friday, November 20, 2015
Nov. 19, 2015
A tremendous resource for parents, the TAPR provides a wide range of performance information for every public school and district in the state. The campus-level, district-level, regional, and statewide reports combine details of academic performance with financial reports and information about staff, programs, and demographics. TAPR is the successor to the popular Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report.
To review the 2014–15 Texas Academic Performance Report, visit the Texas Education Agency website at
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/tapr/2015/index.html
2014-15 Texas Academic
Performance Reports available on TEA website
AUSTIN – Commissioner of
Education Michael Williams announced today that the 2014–15 Texas Academic
Performance Reports (TAPR) are now available on the Texas Education Agency
website.A tremendous resource for parents, the TAPR provides a wide range of performance information for every public school and district in the state. The campus-level, district-level, regional, and statewide reports combine details of academic performance with financial reports and information about staff, programs, and demographics. TAPR is the successor to the popular Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report.
To review the 2014–15 Texas Academic Performance Report, visit the Texas Education Agency website at
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/tapr/2015/index.html
Monday, October 19, 2015
Change in Number of Questions on STAAR grades 3 - 8
As of October 16, 2015 the Commissioner is making a change to the length of the STAAR Assessment for grades 3 - 8. Please follow the link for more information.
http://tea.texas.gov/interiorpage_wide.aspx?id=25769823615
http://tea.texas.gov/interiorpage_wide.aspx?id=25769823615
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
NEWS from Commissioner Williams regarding Phase In
AUSTIN – Commissioner of
Education Michael Williams today advised school districts and charters of his
recommendation to replace the current phase-in schedule for the State of Texas
Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) student passing standards with a
revised approach.
STAAR performance standards have been scheduled to move to the more rigorous phase-in 2 passing standard this school year. Each time the performance standard is increased, a student must achieve a higher score in order to pass a STAAR exam. The STAAR performance standards have been at phase-in 1 for the past four years.
Under new proposed rules from the Commissioner, the traditional phase-in approach would be replaced with a standard progression approach from 2015–2016 through 2021–2022, the year final standards are scheduled to be in place. In other words, rather than larger jumps to more rigorous performance standards every few years, this progression approach would mean smaller, predictable increases every year through the 2021–2022 school year.
"This approach is intended to minimize any abrupt single-year increase in the required Level II standard for this school year and in the future," said Commissioner Williams. "The standard progression approach will still allow annual, consistent, incremental improvements toward the same final recommended Level II performance standards in 2021–2022."
Phase-in 2 standards were originally scheduled to take effect two years ago. However, Commissioner Williams delayed that move to allow educators and students to adjust to the more rigorous curriculum and assessments. In making this recommendation, Commissioner Williams emphasized that increasing the performance standards in smaller increments will still mean the state reaches the final performance standards on the current schedule (as illustrated by the chart below).
The formal rule proposal will be published in the Texas Register on Oct. 16, 2015. A 30-day public comment period will then begin.
The proposed rules to move to a
standard progression approach can be accessed on the Texas Education agency
website at http://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Laws_and_Rules/Commissioner_Rules_(TAC)/Proposed_Commissioner_of_Education_Rules/.
STAAR performance standards have been scheduled to move to the more rigorous phase-in 2 passing standard this school year. Each time the performance standard is increased, a student must achieve a higher score in order to pass a STAAR exam. The STAAR performance standards have been at phase-in 1 for the past four years.
Under new proposed rules from the Commissioner, the traditional phase-in approach would be replaced with a standard progression approach from 2015–2016 through 2021–2022, the year final standards are scheduled to be in place. In other words, rather than larger jumps to more rigorous performance standards every few years, this progression approach would mean smaller, predictable increases every year through the 2021–2022 school year.
"This approach is intended to minimize any abrupt single-year increase in the required Level II standard for this school year and in the future," said Commissioner Williams. "The standard progression approach will still allow annual, consistent, incremental improvements toward the same final recommended Level II performance standards in 2021–2022."
Phase-in 2 standards were originally scheduled to take effect two years ago. However, Commissioner Williams delayed that move to allow educators and students to adjust to the more rigorous curriculum and assessments. In making this recommendation, Commissioner Williams emphasized that increasing the performance standards in smaller increments will still mean the state reaches the final performance standards on the current schedule (as illustrated by the chart below).
The formal rule proposal will be published in the Texas Register on Oct. 16, 2015. A 30-day public comment period will then begin.
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