Final Progress Reports - Southern Regional Education Board

In concert with the new directions being taken in the K-12 sector and college-readiness performance measures
on EOC assessments, the higher education community plans to develop and pilot a college-readiness assessment
system that includes diagnostic and placement capabilities. If the pilot produces a reliable and valid instrument
that measures readiness and assists institutions in properly placing students in developmental education or college
credit courses, then the THECB will implement the system statewide.
Texas has moved rapidly over the past two years to redesign its K-12 assessment system and ensure that the revised
college-readiness standards are reflected in EOC tests and that appropriate performance levels are set. The higher
education community has assisted in this work and has taken steps to improve its placement testing instruments
and processes to enhance alignment with K-12’s higher standards. Close collaboration between the TEA and the
THECB throughout the process, plus strong legislative support, have been critical factors in aligning assessments
with the other elements of a comprehensive college-readiness agenda.
K-12 and Higher Education Accountability
To ensure that the college- and career-readiness initiative is truly statewide, all schools must make college and
career readiness a priority, and accountability — for both K-12 and higher education — is central to success. Both
school and student performance on the college- and career-readiness assessments should be part of the state school
accountability program. This sends a clear message that it is important that all schools make postsecondary readiness
a priority and that increasing percentages of students meet the standards.
In its initial report to the state for this project, SREB noted that EOC exams should have a central place in high
school accountability. Specifically, as Texas considered a revised school accountability system, SREB recommended
that having increased percentages of students meeting college-readiness standards should assume a central place in
the accountability plan. That action would send a strong signal to teachers about the readiness standards and their
priority.
Legislation in 2009 reflects SREB’s suggestions and provides for a statewide school accountability system that
measures school progress in improving the extent to which students are meeting the college-readiness standards by
the 11th grade. The new accountability system will hold schools accountable for college readiness in two ways:
in terms of the increasing percentages of students who actually achieve the readiness standards on the
Algebra II and English III EOCs.
in how effectively schools help students in earlier grade levels of mathematics and English achieve scores
on these EOC tests that predict success in subsequent levels of related course work.
The TEA’s transition plan points out that, rather than modify the existing system to align with new provisions
of House Bill 3, the agency will design a new accountability system in 2011-2012 and implement it in 2013,
reevaluating every aspect of the system. “The defining characteristic of the new accountability system will be the
emphasis on college- and career-ready performance on the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness
(STAAR).”
In addition to accountability at the K-12 level, SREB’s comprehensive college-readiness approach calls for accountability
at the postsecondary level as well. For a college- and career-readiness initiative to be truly systemic and
effective, postsecondary education as a whole must be involved in many of the key steps of the college-readiness
implementation agenda, especially placement testing that is based on the specific readiness standards and performance
levels adopted statewide. Accordingly, states need to hold higher education more accountable for the outcomes
that will flow from a commitment to increasing readiness for higher education; namely, increasing the
percentage of entering students who succeed in first-year courses — or if not, who successfully complete remedial
work based on the shared state readiness standards.
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