WOC CISD will appeal expected TEA accountability ratings

Like many other school districts, West Orange – Cove CISD has been impacted by problems associated with the administration of standardized testing in the state of Texas.

West Orange – Cove CISD plans to appeal projected 2016 district and school accountability ratings when they are released later this month.

“We know the ratings for the district will not be based upon complete information. The possible ‘improvement required’ rating we anticipate to receive will not accurately represent the hard work of our students and staff, and our district. We will begin the appeals process as soon as the window opens Aug. 12,” Superintendent Rickie Harris said.

WOC recently received preliminary unofficial campus and district accountability results. This preliminary data reflected incomplete test data assigned to West Orange – Stark High School. The anticipated TEA rating is currently based upon 336 End of Course assessments. According to WOC records, more than twice that number of assessments were administered during the spring End of Course assessment window.

Additionally, WO-S Middle School accountability information may be incomplete, as well. At this time, WOCCISD is communicating with TEA and ETS regarding the situation.

The district notified the Performance Reporting Division of the Texas Education Agency and Educational Testing Service (ETS) immediately upon learning of the discrepancies.

The source of the High School problem was traced to an Educational Testing Service (ETS) school coding error on the cover page of West Orange – Stark High School tests. The cover page code assigned the test documents to West Orange – Stark Middle School, rather than to West Orange – Stark High School.

WOCCISD staff did not identify the cover page coding error in sufficient time to submit corrected information for accountability purposes.

Ratings will be released. Aug. 15. The window to appeal a TEA rating is Aug. 12 through Sept. 30.

West Orange – Cove expects the August rating to be modified in December following a successful appeal.