1. Richele Langley Deputy Executive Director of Academics April 2017
What’s New From Austin
Richele Langley
Deputy Executive Director of Academics
April 2017

2. To The Administrator Addressed Letters:
Link to: “To the Administrator Addressed” Correspondence site at TEA
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March 24, 2017: District Equity Plan Requirement for ESSA Title 1
will be the first year LEA Equity Plans will be required under ESSA. The due date will be November 1, All districts that receive Title 1 funds must create and submit plans describing how the district will improve gaps as they relate to low-income students and students of color being taught at higher rates than other students by inexperienced, out- of-field and ineffective teachers.
Currently, Region 8 ESC has two repeat sessions available on May 17th & 18th.
These sessions will include:
New ESSA Requirements
• Consolidated Grant Application schedule changes and new schedules
• Commissioner Priorities
• Implications for CNA/DIP/CIP
• Equity Plans
May 17th & 18th are repeat sessions to hopefully accommodate busy schedules. The workshop session info is:
May 17th Session#
May 18th Session#
The May sessions will provide districts with the information needed to begin the process. There will be additional dates that will help districts with each part of the new requirements.

3. Snapshot March 30, 2016: 2016 Snapshot
The 2016 Snapshot: School District Profiles is available on the Texas Education Agency website. Snapshot summary tables provide district information in some common categories, and a peer search function permits grouping districts according to shared characteristics. While Snapshot does provide an overview of public education in Texas at the state level and for each public school district, it does not provide any campus- level information.
To view the information from the 2016 Snapshot: School District Profiles (or for previous years), visit the TEA website at:

4. March 2017 STAAR Grades 5 and 8 Mathematics and Reading
Summary reports, rosters, and data files will be posted to the STAAR Assessment Management System on April 18, 2017, as scheduled.
Student scores will also be posted to the student data portal by April 18, 2017.
CSRs will be posted in the STAAR Assessment Management System on June 30, 2017.
Note: Results of the March grades 5 and 8 mathematics and reading administration will be included with the May grades 3–8 results. If a student participates in the May grades 5 and 8 retest, those scores will be reported and the March scores will not appear.
Spring 2017 STAAR End-of-Course (EOC)
Summary reports, rosters, and data files will be posted to the STAAR Assessment Management System on June 2, 2017, as scheduled.
Student scores will also be posted to the student data portal by June 2, 2017.
CSRs will be posted in the STAAR Assessment Management System on June 12, 2017.
Printed copies of the new CSRs will arrive in districts by June 13, 2017 (only printed copy for the year).
May 2017 STAAR Grades 3–8
Summary reports, rosters, and data files will be posted to the STAAR Assessment Management System on June 14, 2017, as scheduled.
Student scores will also be posted to the student data portal by June 14, 2017, as scheduled.
Printed copies of the new CSRs will arrive in districts by July 10, This will be a delayed timeframe for this transition year only.
Moving forward, districts will receive one printed copy of the new CSR for 2017 spring primary administrations only. For all other administrations, an electronic version of the CSR will be posted in the STAAR Assessment Management System beginning in the school year. Weekly and monthly production of updated CSRs will be put on hold until the new CSRs are released in June. Mock-ups of the redesigned CSRs will be made available soon on the Student Assessment website.
NEW PERFORMANCE LABELS
In addition, the redesigned CSR will include the new performance labels. The table below provides the change from the old performance labels to the new performance labels.
Old Performance Label New Performance Label
Level III: Advanced Academic Performance Masters Grade Level
Final Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance Meets Grade Level
Phase-in Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance Approaches Grade Level (PASSED)
Level I: Unsatisfactory Academic Performance Did Not Meet Grade Level

5. Carl Perkins Reserve CTE Grant – Change in Distribution
Beginning in the school year: The TEA will change its approach for distribution of the Perkins Reserve Grant. Instead of distributing funds through a formula to qualifying LEAs, the Agency will use the funds to offer several competitive grant opportunities with specific focus areas (to be announced this summer).
Instead of distributing funds through a formula to qualifying LEAs, the Agency will use the funds to offer several competitive grant opportunities with specific focus areas (to be announced this summer).
The TEA will be developing the Perkins Reserve Grant applications for the upcoming school year over the coming weeks. We will release a follow-up correspondence in June 2017 to announce the new Perkins Reserve Grant opportunities with details about focus areas, applications, and awards.

6. Highest Ranking Graduate
In conjunction with Texas Education Code (TEC), §54.301, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides an opportunity for each public, charter, and accredited non-public high school in Texas to identify a student to award a "Highest Ranking Graduate” certificate and declaration document.  This certificate and declaration document shall be presented to the highest ranking graduate (HRG) in the senior class.  Under no circumstances may a student ranked lower than "highest" be awarded this honor. The HRG should present the declaration document to the college or university upon admission and retain the certificate for personal use. The HRG declaration document authorizes the president of any state-supported college or university to provide a waiver for tuition in accordance with TEC §
Community and Student Engagement Ratings – CaSE
Each district must evaluate itself on the three selected components and assign a letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F for each and for overall CaSE performance. Each campus must also evaluate itself and assign a letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F for each of the three components and for overall performance. These letter grades will become part of district and campus state academic accountability ratings. (These will be in addition to the old CaSE – see letter with chart)
PEIMS Submission 3 (June 2017)
Accountability Year 2017
CaSE Ratings (Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, or Unacceptable) for all eight components for districts and campuses
Accountability Year 2018
Three chosen CaSE components for academic accountability along with the evaluation criteria for each district and campus If