Friday, May 1, 2015

TEA identifies more than 400 Title I Reward Schools

Texas Education Agency (TEA) has identified more than 400 campuses across the state as high-performing and/or high-progress Title I schools for 2014-2015. Title I schools are defined as campuses with a student population of at least 40 percent low-income.

The identification of high-performing and/or high-progress Title I schools is a part of the state’s conditional waiver from the U.S. Department of Education for specific provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (commonly known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001). The identification of high-performing and/or high-progress is based on statewide reading and mathematics assessments under the State Accountability System in the 2013-2014 school year and graduation rates.

"While we talk of the need to close the education achievement gap, the real work in accomplishing that goal is already taking place on these campuses," said Commissioner of Education Michael Williams. "Whether identified as high-performing, high-progress or both, we should be proud of what’s taking place at these schools and what it means for the future of Texas."

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

EcoLand Summer PD is Open for Registration

Please share the following information with all PreK/ Headstart/ PPCD/ Kindergarten Teachers at your campus.
EcoLand


Attention PreK/ Headstart/ PPCD/ Kindergarten Teachers!

Region 7ESC is excited about a new opportunity available to your students!

EcoLand is an early childhood learning center located in the city of Kilgore and is available for use by Region 7 teachers. The center features nine multi-sensory interactive learning centers where children are able to learn about the earth through investigation. EcoLand’s exhibits are paired with activities that will prepare students for higher level critical thinking that is crucial in the classroom.

To learn more about the EcoLand experience click here.

EcoLand is currently open to PreK/ Headstart teachers, however, in the fall of 2015 the center will host Kindergarten classes as well. As this is an extended learning experience for your students, teacher certification is required in order for your class to attend in the 2015-2016 school year. Teacher certification training is now online and will fill up fast!

Click here to register today! Teachers will receive 6 hours of CPE credit for attending.

Monday, April 27, 2015

2014–15 Reporting Requirements for Community and Student Engagement

TEA recently distributed a reminder that Texas Education Code §39.0545 requires each district and charter school to annually evaluate its performance and the performance of each of its campuses in the area of community and student engagement. Each district and charter must assign a performance rating of exemplary, recognized, acceptable, or unacceptable to itself and to each of its campuses. Ratings are to be assigned for overall performance as well as for each of the following categories:

•    Fine arts
•    Wellness and physical education
•    Community and parental involvement
•    The 21st Century Workforce Development program
•    The second language acquisition program
•    The digital learning environment
•    Dropout prevention strategies
•    Educational programs for gifted and talented students

Districts and charters must designate local committee(s) to determine the criteria that districts and charters use both to evaluate performance and assign ratings for community and student engagement and to evaluate and indicate compliance with statutory reporting and policy requirements.

As with last year, the locally-assigned district and campus community and student engagement ratings information will be collected through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) summer collection on the following timeline:

1.    The PEIMS Summer submission reflecting the data from the 2014–15 school year is due on June 25, 2015.
2.    The PEIMS Summer resubmission reflecting the data from the 2014–15 school year is due on July 23, 2015.
3.    For schools operating on a year-round track, the PEIMS Summer submission is due on June 25, 2015, and the PEIMS Summer resubmission is due on August 20, 2015.

The following summarizes the key points of the required PEIMS submission:
•    Districts and charters are required to assign locally-determined performance ratings and compliance statuses to itself and each of its campuses, including alternative campuses, pre-kindergarten campuses, and alternative education campuses evaluated under alternative education accountability (AEA) provisions.
•    Budgeted (non-instructional) campuses, Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP) campuses, Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP) campuses, and facilities operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department are excluded.
•    The submissions must be made through PEIMS; there is no alternative data collection system.
•    Districts and charters are required to post the ratings and compliance statuses for the district and each campus on the school district’s website by August 8, 2015. For campuses that operate on a year-round calendar, the information should be posted on the school district website no later than the last day of August.
•    TEA is required to report the local performance ratings and compliance statuses on its website no later than October 1, 2015.

In addition, each district and charter must indicate whether it and each of its campuses has complied with statutory reporting and policy requirements. Beginning with the 2014-2015 submission, a new code table, STATUTORY-REPORTING-AND-POLICY-AND-COMPLIANCE-INDICATOR-CODE (C200), will be used for this indicator. Districts indicate either a “0” or “1”, as defined below, and cannot leave the field blank.

0 – No (Not In Compliance)
1 – Yes (In Compliance)

Please address questions about the PEIMS submission requirements to TEA Statewide Education Data Systems division by emailing peimscustomersupport@tea.texas.gov. Please contact the Performance Reporting division at 512-463-9704 if you have any questions about the reporting requirements for the community and student engagement indicators.

Contact Information
Texas Education Agency
Department of Assessment and Accountability, Criss Cloudt, Associate Commissioner
Division of Performance Reporting, Shannon Housson, Division Director
Division of Performance Reporting, Ester Regalado, Director
(512) 463-9704
performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov

Get Inspired by the Texas Teacher, Named National Teacher of the Year

Shanna Peeples worked as a disc jockey, medical assistant, pet sitter and journalist prior to becoming a teacher -- a profession she says eventually chose her. She taught seventh-grade English Language Arts for six years before moving to the high school level. Peeples now teaches AP English and English III, and she serves as the English department chair as well as an instructional coach for other teachers. At Palo Duro High School, many of Peeples' students are immigrants, who come from as many as 20 different countries in some school years.  Read more at Twitter Teacher of the Year, and her professional webpage, which includes her coaching philosophy as a teacher leader.

"My students, survivors of deep and debilitating trauma, have shaped the kind of teacher I am," said Peeples. "They have taught me to never make a promise I can't keep, because so many already have learned to see the world through suspicious eyes. To be the best teacher to them, I have to remember this and honor their background. I remember so I can gain their trust because I want them to read and write their way out of where they are."

Read a letter from President Obama recognizing Shannon Peeples and his fifth-grade teacher.

Amarillo ISD teacher named National Teacher of the Year
AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott, Commissioner of Education Michael Williams and Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) Executive Director Johnny Veselka today congratulated Amarillo teacher Shanna Peeples who has been named 2015 National Teacher of the Year. Peeples, an English teacher at Palo Duro High School in the Amarillo Independent School District, is the first educator from the state of Texas to earn the national honor since 1957.

The National Teacher of the Year program identifies exceptional teachers in the country, recognizes their effective work in the classroom and empowers them to participate in policy discussions at the state and national levels. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which oversees the National Teacher of the Year program, today announced Peeples as this year’s winner.