Every year, the state provides Ector County ISD with a look at how different sectors of the district are doing.
Called Results Driven Accountability, or RDA, it looks at three different student groups — emergent bilingual, other special populations and special education, said Jessica Gore, executive director of Research, Evaluation, & Accountability.
Other special populations include homeless, foster and military connected.
Gore recently presented these numbers to the ECISD Board of Trustees. She noted that the numbers she shared from Results Driven Accountability are only for those student groups.
“Underneath those three student groups, there’s 12 indicators across three domains that Results Driven Accountability looks at across the state. Then you receive a performance level which creates a determination level which tells other people in the state and you as a district, how you’ve done compared to your peers and then we are charged with taking action based on those results. That’s what I shared with trustees,” Gore said in an interview.
Determination levels range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the best and 4 the worst.
“For emergent bilingual, we were (at) determination level 1, which is the best. We have not been a determination level one in at least nine years in Ector County ISD. That means no further action is required with the state. That’s a big celebration for our district. Other special populations received a determination level of a 3, which is labeled as needs intervention. That is one of our priorities for next year moving forward is that our homeless, foster and military students are performing more like their peers as expected on RDA. Then special ed received a determination level 2, which is an improvement from last year but we definitely want it to be a 1, so that will be a continued focus,” Gore said.
She added that ECISD had no 4s.
“What we decided as the three different committees that worked on emergent bilingual, special education and other special populations is good instruction. Tier one instruction is going to benefit all three student groups. We had to submit strategic support plans, SSPs, to the state. Our strategic support plans are all aligned for the different student groups because if it’s good for students that are special ed, it’s also good for students that are emergent bilingual. It’s also good for students that are military connected,” Gore said.
Three of the four performance levels that the district has to address are social studies.
“So because 75% of what we must focus on is social studies in grades three through eight, only eighth graders sit for the STAAR test for social studies. But what we’ve realized as a district is it’s not that you get to eighth grade and all of a sudden you’re behind. Rather it’s the foundation that should be being built and kinder through seventh is where we’re weak. And so our strategic support plans really address and identify targeted action steps we can take to make sure our kinder through seventh graders are receiving strong social studies and science instruction to prepare them for the RDA metric that’s reported in eighth grade,” she added.
One reason for this, Gore said at the board meeting, is that elementary school teachers are focusing too much on reading.
Following district instructional frameworks is one step toward making sure that happens.
“Our curriculum and instruction team has developed minute-by-minute expectations of what should be happening in the classroom that includes science minutes, that includes social studies minutes. Secondary to that would be professional development and support around what that test is looking like,” Gore said.
“Because, let me give you an example, compared to reading and math. We have a reading test in third; we have a math test in third. We have a reading test in fourth; we have a math test in fourth; in fifth we have science for the first time and then they don’t test science again until eighth grade. So oftentimes fifth grade will focus on science because it’s tested, but then it drops back off and sixth and seventh and then eighth grade has to pick up whatever gaps were left between sixth and seventh from fifth.
“Whereas reading and math you have a data point every single year, so we’re able to close that gap every single year with a strong summative data point from the state. So in ECISD, prioritizing instruction using data and then professional development is how we’re going to move that metric forward,” Gore said.
The goal with the instructional framework is not putting pressure on the teachers.
“It gives them guardrails in which they have autonomy to choose how they deliver what is required by law. TEKS are required by the state and we really have little to no flexibility with what TEKS (you teach). You can choose how you deliver them (and) in what order and what unit, but what you teach is not an option. In ECISD, the minutes for which you are to teach what is required is also a non-negotiable because of these metrics. This is a great example of why it’s not an option. But teacher autonomy, teacher creativity, teacher innovation all comes in with the aspect of how do I want to teach money; how do I want to teach main idea? How do I want to teach algebraic reasoning? That’s a teacher’s choice,” Gore said.
The objective is to have a framework that teachers function in consistently throughout the district, meeting state law and making sure students are “equitably receiving the amount of instruction they should be, so that when they get to these benchmark tests through the state, that we’re not reacting to the data like we are right now with Results Driven Accountability, rather, we’re proactive and making sure kids in Tier 1 instruction receive exactly what they need to,” she added.
Over the years there have been different tests and labels and with them different expectations.
“Every time there’s a new label to the system … expectations change, so really whether or not I believe it’s better is irrelevant. The state expects us to meet these metrics and expects the students to perform like their peers. In Ector County ISD, we’re headed in the right direction making sure that’s happening, but we still have areas we have to work on,” Gore said.
The A-F accountability system is important, but Results Driven Accountability is now included in the accountability manual. Gore said it’s the state’s way of saying RDA has not been a priority because it’s not weighted toward accountability for 2024, but they are heading in that direction.
She added that ECISD expects that within around five years it will be a weighted metric.
She said the A-F accountability system is weighted heavily toward math and reading.
“It’s tested every year. You have a lot more assessments in that area. … There’s three domains in the accountability system. Some of them only look at reading and math. So if you’re a campus principal, and you’re trying to lead a school towards an A or turn around a school from an F to a C, then you’re going to choose what weighs the most for your accountability. But at the same time, then RDA is getting hit our students that are measured in RDA are not receiving the instruction necessary. So yes, A through F accountability is important, but Results Driven Accountability is now included in the accountability manual,” Gore said.
With RDA, Gore said, the district has to submit plans and turn in evidence of improvement.
“There’s still work we’re doing regardless of if it counts towards A through F. But as a campus principal and/or as a teacher, math and reading could be viewed as most important, even though Results Driven Accountability is also critical,” she added.
ECISD uses almost every Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, test, created.
“We have science benchmarks in MAP. We definitely have math and reading. We have more specific areas of high school courses in MAP tests, too, but MAP does not have social studies assessments yet. They plan to include those at some point, but in ECISD we have benchmarks that we’ve utilized for social studies data points,” Gore said.
She added that ECISD is making great improvements and you can expect to see even more next year.
