Texas is only state to reach all four accountability criteria.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Texas has long been a leader in the educational reform movement. Together the State Board of Education the Texas Education Agency local educators & legislators have positioned Texas as a leading state" said Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott. A new report issued today by the bipartisan education reform group Achieve found Texas is the nations only state to implement all its key college & career readiness policies.
Achieve conducts an annual survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine whether they have implemented strategic college and career readiness policies.
Texas was the only state to receive a check mark in the five areas Achieve graded alignment of curriculum standards graduation requirements assessments P-20 data systems and accountability systems.
The accountability measure examined whether a state:
- Annually reported school performance information publicly
Set state performance goals- Provided school-level incentives and employed measurements that were weighted heavily towards college & career readiness indicators.
Creating a college and career ready culture that challenges our students to strive for excellence is important for the continued health and prosperity of Texas" said Commissioner Scott.
The Achieve report called
Closing the Expectations Gap 2011 cited Texas for its implementation of best practices saying:
Texas school-based incentives the Gold Performance Acknowledgment Standards are presented alongside one another and annually updated in the Texas Education Agency Accountability Manual to reflect changes in the minimum thresholds for recognition.
Texas data system allows a user to select one or more Gold Performance Acknowledgments (e.g. dual enrollment Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate results college-ready graduates college and career readiness diploma college and career readiness assessment results etc.) and view all schools/districts that met the selected Gold Performance Acknowledgments.
These designations also appear at the top of school report cards reinforcing their visibility and importance to parents teachers and the public."
Texas was also recognized for:
- Adopting English language arts and mathematics standards that reflect the knowledge and skills colleges and universities demand of high school graduates.
- Establishing requirements that all high school graduates must complete a college and career ready curriculum that includes at least up to Algebra II and English IV.
- Administering tests that colleges can use to measure students mastery of college and career ready content in English and mathematics.
- Providing a P-20 data system that allows public schools and universities to match longitudinal student-level data.
Achieve created in 1996 by the nations governors and corporate leaders Achieve is an independent bipartisan nonprofit education reform organization based in Washington D.C.
The entire Achieve report is available for review here.
