ATPE News is the official publication of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, the largest educator association in Texas. The magazine addresses the most important issues affecting public education in the state. Learn more at ATPE.org.
Issue link: https://atpe.epubxp.com/i/435977
14 | atpe.org atpe news were incorporated into an ASD. Without teacher contracts and other quality measures such as class-size limits and discipline standards, ASD schools would likely be flled with inexperienced teachers who, absent contracts, could walk away from their jobs at any time, even in the middle of the school year. Governor-Elect Abbott's ASD proposal mirrors Sen. West's 2013 legislation, but there are a few key diferences. First, SB 1718 envisioned a cap on the number of campuses that could be placed in the ASD, but Abbott's plan mentions no limit on the number of campuses the ASD could contain at any one time. Abbott's proposal only says that the bottom 15 elementary schools with an F rating (under an A–F rating system) for the two prior years would be moved to the ASD. Second, under the governor-elect's plan, the ASD superintendent would determine whether to send campuses back to their original ISDs at some future point. SB 1718 provided a more prescriptive timeline for returning ASD campuses to their original ISDs. ASDs in Other States Texas is not the frst state to pursue ASDs. Tennessee has already implemented an ASD, and Louisiana has a Recovery School District (RSD), which is the same concept. In 2003, the Louisiana Legislature created its RSD to take over the operations of failing schools, which the state defned as schools that did not meet minimum academic standards for at least four consecutive years. Louisiana's was the frst RSD/ ASD model to be passed into law. Many Texas reformers point to the Louisiana RSD as a model system, claiming it has helped improve the performance of New Orleans schools. They point to the fact that, despite lackluster achievement results, campus ratings under the state's accountability system are better. However, digging deeper into Louisiana's accountability system reveals that much of the success attributed to the RSD could be due to manipulation of cut scores at the state level (see the sidebar "An In-Depth Look Into Louisiana's Recovery School District" for more information). Tennessee's ASD is younger than Louisiana's RSD, so there is much less achievement data available. Nonetheless, there are some concerning trends and skewed data. As the 84th Legislature prepares to convene, it's too soon to know what the next Texas ASD bill will look like. But, Governor-Elect Abbott has said he would like to see Achievement School Districts become a reality in our state. ATPE will keep a watchful eye on any such bills and will work to ensure that teachers' rights and students' best interests, rather than the welfare of private charter management companies, are served by any ASD proposal. Prior to the 2004-05 school year, Hurricane Katrina, and the mass transfer of New Orleans schools to the RSD, the cut score for passing the state test was 50. Act 35 brought the cut score up to roughly 82—the average score on the previous year's test. The post-Katrina legislation meant 107 public schools were transferred into the RSD and all of the schools in New Orleans were reclassifed as failing. The following year, after those failing schools were swept into the RSD, the state lowered its cut score back down to 60. This change caused many of the schools that had just been classifed as failing to be considered passing again. Therefore, much of the improvement attributed to the RSD could actually be the result of cut score manipulation. A CLOSER LOOK AT LOUISIANA'S RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT To learn more about the Tennessee ASD, read "Gary Rubinstein's Blog: Frayser 9GA, the Miracle School of the Achievement School District" at nepc. colorado.edu/blog/frayser-miracle-school.