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The State Board of Education met on August 30th to hear a number of items. The report below covers Commissioner Mike Morath’s comments to the SBOE.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer.

Commissioner’s Comments & HB 1605 Discussion

Mike Morath, Commissioner of Education

  • STAAR scores came out a little later than normal due to redesign, next year should be out a little faster, May or June
  • STAAR occupies a great deal of our time in education, highlights metrics on current STAAR
  • A lot more non-multiple choice questions this year, but test is not harder, same “meets grade level” standard
  • 3% more kids are meeting grade-level statewide, but not up to pre-COVID metrics
  • Also have kids who “master” grade level, can demonstrate TEKS in unfamiliar contexts, e.g. applying fractions to real-world situations in 5th grade
  • “Meets grade level” advances to next year, “approaches” is close, “does not meet” are kids who are notably below grade level; “does not meet” for math was 21% pre-COVID, 37% at start, now 27%, so there is an improvement, but not meeting pre-COVID highs
  • “Masters” in math is a little less this year, which is concerning
  • Similar for science, COVID recovery is happening, but not meeting pre-COVID levels; pre-COVID levels weren’t a utopia either, so still have work to do
  • Reading is more complicated, pre-COVID was 47%, now seeing a higher proficiency than we’ve seen before at 52%
  • Writing component is new, so data this year includes kids’ writing proficiency; seeing 5% drop in “masters” grade level proficiency between last year and this year, so possibly had kids who could “decode” passages well, but can’t “encode;” decline may represent more holistic definition of “masters grade level”
  • Highlights economically disadvantaged data
  • Staci Childs, SBOE – What interventions are there to make sure economically disadvantaged students are given the opportunity to measure up to other students?
    • Morath – Complicated questions, many things built in to create more resources; legislature significantly overfunds low-income kids
    • Also have academic intervention supports, kids not performing at grade level have right to tutoring for a year
    • And then there is a question of instructional design, how well you’ve created a rich academic program
    • This is “the question” in public education
  • Highlights trends for “emergent bilingual” and “special education” students
  • Morath and Chair Kevin Ellis note that slides are in SBOE member’s mailboxes
  • Presents data broken out by race & ethnicity, Asian students are outperforming everyone, followed by White students, Hispanic, and African American; same trends have existed for a long time
  • On microdata, most states are not doing as much as Texas; highlights TexasAssessment.gov and process for looking up student info & info available, includes student stats like responses to questions & comparisons, including year-to-year trends
  • Passages in STAAR are designed to build cross-curricular knowledge, e.g. building background info from a variety of subjects
  • TEA tracks logs, launch day mid-August had 300k logins by noon; allows parents to see detailed information & no other state is doing this
  • Have been working on making sure ISDs, parents, and students have info on how dangerous fentanyl is, “one pill kills” campaign
  • Vast majority of people who die from fentanyl do not deliberately take fentanyl, mostly poisonings or adulterated drugs
  • TEA doesn’t control how the info is implemented, there is some state law on how to incorporate some off the info into classrooms
  • Aicha Davis, SBOE – Article came out about Rocketship in my district, 60% did not meet standard; any intervention to make sure those students aren’t consistently failed?
    • Morath – Every child who doesn’t meet grade level is entitled to 1 year of tutoring
    • Also A-F system ensures schools are teaching kids to standards, one of the most powerful tools we have to make sure adjustments are made
  • Davis – No support for new charters that are struggling?
    • Morath – Have a launch team that supports new charters
  • Davis – About Houston ISD, closed several libraries and that creates an equity issue
    • Morath – Libraries aren’t closed, books are on shelves
  • Davis – Not a fully functioning library with no librarians or student guidance
    • Morath – Media doesn’t get facts straight, students are brought into the libraries with classroom teachers for tutoring and possible independent reading
  • Davis – Are these students disciplinary?
    • Morath – Just because it is in newspapers doesn’t make it accurate; referring to these as Team Centers, multiple in each school, one of these locations is the library
    • In some situations, students can be transferred to a Team Center
  • Evelyn Brooks, SBOE – I like the TexasAssessment.gov tool you presented, tutoring was a good idea but a lot of it is done digitally & concerned about results; with the data you have, what type of reports are teachers getting? Do teachers have access to a report with data on each student that can be passed to other teachers? Is there a way that we can go into tool without a code to practice?
    • Morath – Teachers have access to the same portal, have a system called TIDE
    • Whole set of information like practice tests, practice students; anyone can access
    • Also have data tracking on logins, can see how many parents have logged in & tracked with demographics; believe over time will see more and more access performance management approach
  • LJ Francis, SBOE – Asks about system access
    • Morath – Login and access support would be good
  • Francis – On a district tour, asked about STAAR 2.0, there are now several different options for answers & teachers are having an issue; TEA gave samples, but may not have been reflective of all options
    • Morath – Released a bunch of sample resources before STAAR 2.0, but resources have expanded over time
    • Every question on last year’s test is publicly posted, did as much as possible to address concerns last year, but can see more examples this year
  • Francis – Civics education?
    • Morath – We are behind, weren’t supposed to get started until SBOE adopted revised TEKS, but owe you an update on this
  • Marisa Perez-Diaz, SBOE – New way in which special populations are being evaluated, can you elaborate on how this will work?
    • Morath – Don’t know specifics, but know the thrust of the conversation
    • Have three domains, get the better of first two, proficiency and growth; 70% of rating for campus
    • Domain 3 is about closing gaps, looks at how gaps are closed over time between groups of kids
    • Focusing on two groups of kids doing the worst at a campus and have a schedule of iterative improvements that could be made, believe it to be more accurate on how a campus is closing gaps
  • Perez-Diaz – Asks for white paper or info that breaks this down
    • Morath – Do have this, can share this
  • Childs – Economically disadvantaged students of great concern, 80% in Houston ISD; how is the right to tutoring funded?
    • Morath – Comp Ed generally
  • Childs – How will this right trickle down to districts, how do administrators
    • Morath – Not the same everywhere, in districts like Houston it differs by campus
    • In some cases, contracted with 3rd party, sometimes volunteers
    • Get highly developed tutoring lessons, diagnostic is done; this is the high water mark & there is a lot of low water like drafting teachers
    • Some have modified school schedules to implement dedicated tutoring time block
  • Childs – So it is a right and students are required to take it?
    • ISD is obligated to provide the service, even if parents don’t ask for it, parents can bring issues up with the ISD
  • Childs – Want more clarity on what is happening in Houston ISD; libraries are being repurposed, some kids are being transferred to team centers and watch class on Zoom? How is this good for kids?
    • Morath – For children that would’ve been removed from class, this is very beneficial; revolutionary advance for equity for most at-risk kids
    • Primary focus is not on discipline, for independent and targeted study
  • Childs – Is there research that shows putting students with disciplinary together in one center is effective?
    • Morath- Not exactly what is happening, have extensive evidence that removal from the classroom reduces achievement & this minimizes that by relocating students temporarily
  • Childs – So there will be students without disciplinary issues there as well?
    • Morath – Correct
  • Childs – Why was it necessary to get rid of librarians?
    • Have about 23 librarians who have been removed, not every school has a certified librarian; managerial decisions about allocation of labor and time
  • Childs – Any feedback on what is working on takeover of ISD?
    • A lot of very positive changes happening and what the media reports, which is generally not that
    • “Earthshattering change” is that this is probably the first time Houston ISD has started with no teaching vacancies
    • Management change at central office to better serve campuses
  • Rebecca Bell-Metereau, SBOE – Constituents have emailed about PragerU, chaplains, and censorship in schools; asks for comment
    • Morath – PragerU is a curriculum vendor and sell curriculum, would guess some people are clients of Prager and using resources and some aren’t; not sure what they are concerned about with Prager
  • Bell-Metereau – Concerned about lack of accuracy and inclusiveness, if you haven’t heard about this I’m surprised
    • Morath – On second question, ISDs can lawfully use chaplains to support kids, great source of support, depends on ISD policy
  • Bell-Metereau – Have heard from chaplains that say this isn’t what they’ve been trained to do
    • Morath – Then would encourage them to not apply
    • On censorship, ISDs are attempting to censor content for kids much like parents do
  • Bell-Metereau – More an issue of classic texts being removed more for political reasons
    • Morath – I see a lot of news coverage, don’t know that I’ve seen a lot of classics removed
  • Will Hickman, SBOE – Would request an ongoing report or status of how things are going at Houston ISD
    • Morath – Will try and share updates to the extent I know what is going on
  • Julie Pickren, SBOE – School chaplains are a wonderful help for suicide prevention, Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs use chaplains to address suicide risk
  • Pickren – On STAAR data, trustees have huge responsibility for academics and ISDs, but don’t always get timely information; can we create a trustee portal?
    • Morath – Have a version of something like that, question is how well trustees know about it and if they’re trained to use it
    • TEA does not have the ability to contact trustees directly, not able to collect info by law; TEA sends letters to superintendents who share with boards, always found this odd
    • Ability to directly train and support school boards is a little limited
  • Pickren – They are in charge and making direct decisions, them having access to this data is crucial; students in the “does not meet” category have 1 year of tutoring, any grant money or funding left over at state level for these students?
    • Morath – Statute said use ESSR funds, but those expire at the beginning of the upcoming school year, statute was changed to also identify comp ed as a source of funding
    • Bill to increase comp ed to support tutoring didn’t pass
    • Was part of the package Governor supported & he has talked about bringing legislature back for special session, so would anticipate this being discussed during special session
  • Pickren – For RLA, see a significant increase from 2019 to 2023, what do you attribute that to?
    • Morath – Don’t have trials to understand rollout, in part I think it is the reading academies; saw a similar effect when Bush administration expanded them
    • SBOE modified ELAR TEKS which could have spillover effects
  • Pickren – Superintendents are talking about cut score changes?
    • Morath – Talking about A-F, began communicating around the state about changes about June of last year; discussed doing increases on a five year cycle, doing small increases to cut scores year-to-year makes comparisons difficult, but there wasn’t a lot of anguish for little changes
    • With new approach, you hold things stable for 5 years, but the 1 year major changes are made will be more significant
    • Haven’t made any cut score changes on STAAR proficiency rates, suggesting small changes to growth rates
    • Proposed change in CCMR cut scores because it has grown about 30%
    • Grad rates have improved a little, so cut scores would go up a little
    • From a superintendent perspective, one change will be significant for about 30% of superintendents; graded all kids in an ISD as one cohort for past 5 years, meaning 60% of scores are based on graduating seniors
    • Also shifting to make district rating the weighted average of campus rating, which can cause big shift in campus rating
  • Pickren – Group of children are designated DNQ in SBOE 7, what can we do to close the gap for these children
    • Morath – In special education evaluations, if a student doesn’t have a disability or doesn’t have a disability that can be addressed by special education, that is “Do Not Qualify”
    • If the numbers rise in a district, it’s cause for the monitoring team to look at an ISD; this could be fine as special education is an entitlement for children that need it only
  • Pickren – Requests that leadership be brought to a conversation on how to address DNQ; several ISDs are having to provide supports without compensation for special education
    • Morath – Let us know who they are and we can contact them
    • Broader point is about education on this topic, will talk to team to make sure it’s built into training
  • Audrey Young, SBOE – You mentioned removal from classroom reduces student achievement; one lane of noncompliance are students of color placed in DAEP and also in special education & there isn’t clear direction on how to handle these students; a subpop area that is counted against ISDs bat doesn’t take all elements into consideration
    • Morath – Rules on this are federal, but TEA is not allowed to do anything different
    • One objective is try to create more training on those things relating to this that are in the core school leadership lane
    • This is next for TEA over the next year or two as an area of focus
  • Young – SPP indicator is where this data is collected
    • Morath – Required data element mandated by federal gov and required to apply this in terms of disproportionality
  • Young – Same things with STAAR testing and subpop groups, will we include special education and highly mobile students in focus groups?
    • Morath – Yes, there is improved focus on special education and other high focus groups
  • Young – Will it be a negative impact on the ISD? This is continually fought over because ISDs don’t want this to count against them
    • Morath – Designed to be positive, ISDs focusing on these students get higher ratings in Domain 3
  • Young – About chaplains in the classroom, chaplains of certain denominations are required to serve all denominations; can they choose not to serve?
    • Morath – Legal question I haven’t explored, guess is they cannot choose not to serve certain students
  • Young – Just want to make sure all employees have to provide similar services to all students
  • Tom Maynard, SBOE – Legislature created a taskforce on industry based certifications, this is very important moving forward
    • Morath – Task force has met and I have presented at least once, can share presentations with the SBOE & likely have other updates that will come before the SBOE in the future
    • Continue to make improvements based on feedback from employers and underlying economic data
  • Maynard – Just don’t want this to be “out of sight, out of mind;” have many good CTE programs
  • Pam Little, SBOE – In addition to reading academies, etc. improving reading, we also adopted language arts materials and changed test; previously had TAKS materials in prep for the STAAR test
  • Little – Have been reading about lawsuit filed over timing of accountability system?
    • Morath – Get sued a lot, in this case being sued over issuance of A-F ratings this year, but don’t have a hearing this year
    • Plaintiffs allege we have violated state law on publishing rules, suit is completely without merit and law is very clear
  • Patricia Hardy, SBOE – Got several phone calls about STAAR test where 3rd graders are being tested in front of computer screens for roughly 7 hours; are these isolated cases and are there options for 3rd graders to take a paper & pencil test?
    • Morath – In prior years, had rules on time and implementation; have found that relaxation of rules could’ve caused these problems & planning to revisit those rules to prevent seven hour sessions
    • Did have an exception for parents to request a paper test, up to 3% can do this after a law change
    • Think a combo of things will address this
    • TEKS also covers tech apps, in 2nd grade TEKS calls for kids to start to learn how to type
  • Bell-Metereau – Would like to ask Commissioner Morath if he’s looked at research on high-stakes testing?
    • Morath – Have looked at a lot of research
  • Chair Ellis – Postponed several items from yesterday to after this item today; in addition 2025 TEKS revision, K-12 is also proposed to be part of first material reviewed under IMRA; if publishers want to submit now they would need to look at current process, if they choose not to enter IMRA it would be much later
    • Morath – We would open up publishers to be considered under IMRA right after November board meeting, close in February; ensures that anyone who missed the last Proclamation could be provided to ISDs
  • Chair Ellis – Also about science that was discussed yesterday, seemed to be more in favor of holding off in developing science rubric and letting TEA focus on math, etc.
    • Morath – This is what we talked about in June, would make sure we can get other rubrics done
  • Francis – Spoke yesterday about how it is a little obscure how ISDs would access the funding & this would inform decision here today; if we use the materials from Proclamation for science K-12 and use the same documents to run through IMRA, could be approved with conditions that they edit & could start thought for ISDs that need to access that portion of IMRA funding
  • Francis – If a district buys for IMTA funding, even if they go the whole 8 years it wouldn’t work under IMRA
    • TEA Staff – Discussed if a product was Proclamation 24 approved, could an ISD use IMRA funds, but have not developed or issued guidance on this yet
    • If they pay the 8 year contract up front, then IMRA money wouldn’t even be a consideration as funding was designated under IMTA
    • Ultimately a local decision whether to go with Proc 24 or IMRA
  • Francis – From one superintendent, intending to use EMAT and ESSR funds and will be buying year-to-year while waiting for IMRA funds
  • Chair Ellis – I think this would make sense to hold off on science rubric; essentially think about ISDs having two buckets of money, traditional allotment and HB 1605 money; idea about pushing through science is to give access, but we still plan to do ELAR K-5 and math 6-12, still money for science in the traditional distribution, not need to put science ahead of other products
  • Francis – What you said gives me more comfort, but concerned if we would put ISDs at a disadvantage as they could use IMTA for other things; need more clarity if ISDs could use money now that could roll over
    • Morath – IMA goes into an accountant managed in the EMAT application, IMRA also goes into an account managed in EMAT; once it is there it is there for eternity
    • If a district does not need to buy phonics material, may still need to buy supplemental or mathematics, etc.
    • Assuming an ISD doesn’t need to spend any money on high quality materials in math and other areas, $40/kid in money specific to IMRA is deposited and accumulates
    • Assuming there is a product that becomes available and they can take advantage of, they will have a bucket of money to use for that
  • Francis – So the approved list doesn’t have to have a book on it, the money will accumulate; this is a fact?
    • Morath – This is a fact legally, technically we may not have EMAT system up, but the money is theirs
  • Maynard – If you can pull money from one wallet, it frees up money in the other; don’t want to delay science, ISDs have plenty of other things they can use IMRA money for, doesn’t make sense to delay support for TEKS materials
    • Morath – Proclamation for science isn’t being delayed at all, question is if you want to make an updated version 12 months, 24, 36, etc.
  • Maynard – If publishers go through the process and if we’ll put them through another
    • Morath – A little confusing for a large number of people
  • Perez-Diaz – It seems as though we would be asking for members of the public to donate time and then obsolete that information in short order; second time we would’ve done this recently; won’t get volunteers because feedback and guidance won’t be given weight it deserves
  • Hickman – Have an empty HB 1605 bookshelf, don’t want science books on the old bookshelf to be cancelled, no one will buy them; suggest we look at contracts that will expire and put those under IMRA
    • Morath – You will take action on a decision in the future for rubrics, but what I think I’ve heard we concentrate on first aspects of IMRA in the next two months
  • Aaron Kinsey, SBOE – Could’ve focused on anything, hard to delink this from rubric discussion and resource constraints; comfortable delaying science and getting help to get rubrics done
  • Hickman – Ready to talk process, what we’ll do now and in November
  • Young – After talking with superintendents, they just ask for a decision one way or the other
    • Morath – We will not develop IMRA rubric for science in this cycle, will plan a TAA to make sure districts take advantage
  • Chair Ellis – On process, will ask your team to get together with me to determine if we need a special meeting with the constraints between first and second reading
    • Morath – No reason for us to schedule another meeting earlier than November as planned, but could be good reason to schedule another meeting between November and January
    • Can also consider a late February meeting if needed
  • Chair Ellis – This would be to discuss process document, also a suitability document if needed
    • Morath – Narrowly shooting to get stuff done needed by the end of January, but there will be more stuff coming in April, etc.
    • Quality process, reviewer process, suitability rubric, etc. between now and January
    • Also need to make decisions on TEKS
  • Perez-Diaz – Where in the process is the parent portal being created?
    • Morath – Rules need to be created, statute has guidance, but SBOE can go above and beyond
    • Not sure we were planning to have first draft for rule in November, thinking this would be later, maybe early Spring of next year
    • Sooner publishers know of rules the better, but they have the general rule about the parent portal per the statute
  • Chair Ellis – Pushing it to April of 2024?
    •  Morath – April of 2024 might be a good first reading of parent portal rule
  • Chair Ellis – Sooner they get the info to provide us the material they need to the better
  • Perez-Diaz – If parent portal will be stood up similar to the assessment portal, this framework could be helpful, is this the approach TEA will take?
    • Morath – Yes, but somewhat difficult in rule to describe parent user experience
    • Clearly need to have single sign-on capability, e.g. linking from logging into ISD system to publisher system
  • Hickman – Have been talking for two days, I’m ready for first reading; could we have a first reading in November, and then decide at the end can decide if we’re ready for second reading or we need another first reading, etc.?
    • Chair Ellis – This was my plan for the suitability rubric, could post this for first reading in November, but could modify; would err towards doing discussion in November, possible first reading December, second in January
  • Hickman – Process wise, if we could have drafts before November, we could come prepared to discuss changes, etc.; also need to discuss consultation process
    • Morath – Objective to get material to you as soon as possible, but confidence in doing this is not high
    • More comfortable with the 3 meeting cycle
  • Maynard – Is parent portal a checkbox or another quality issue with a rubric to evaluate? Many entities have poor websites
    • Morath – Made assumption that rule should have enough detail to verify compliance, light touch process, would review and TEA would give opinion on compliance
    • Little different than graduation on quality
    • Thinking is it would be a pass-fail, and after first year if bar was low you could change it
  • Francis – Auxiliary portion of rules depend on creating a resource, but local review of classroom materials doesn’t depend on creating a resource
  • Chair Ellis – Will not overlook a portion of the bill that needs to be done
    • Morath – Definitely looking at whole bill, spoke about this at June meeting
    • Spoke a little about timeline, there actually are some preconditions for the local reviews
    • SBOE has to adopt the rubric for grade level determinations; TEA’s thinking is this a little subset of IMRA rubrics
    • Once SBOE adopts IMRA rubrics, then we would circle back and take a subset for these reviews
    • Board vote that would happen in second half of calendar year 2024 based on what happens in January
    • SBOE also needs to adopt parent petition rules
    • TEA needs to adopt rules to determine how this is executed
    • Have pilot reviews happening right now experimenting with framework for lightest touch on teachers, etc.
  • Kinsey – Will probably be three more meetings?
    • Chair Ellis – Will probably be three more on quality and process
    • On suitability, probably intend to put this for first reading in November, if SBOE is uncomfortable with this we don’t have to take action and do this in December
  • Kinsey – Who is going to draft?
    • Chair Ellis – This is on my to do list
  • Young – There is also a requirement for all instructional materials concerning a parent portal, what is the effective date for that for ISDs?
    • Morath – All parents have a right of access to instructional materials, statute slightly expanded this for parents to have access before school year begins and after school year ends
    • Logistical difficulty is they may not be in a portal, portal requirements are only binding on publisher that wants to get access to $40/kid
  • Young – How would parent get access if a curriculum is online
    • Morath – Assuming it is, pursuant to rules adopted, would have single sign-on standard
    • This is required for IMRA, but only statutorily required for IMRA
  • Young – So parents don’t have access to online curriculum that isn’t IMRA?
    • Morath – Parents have right of access, but format isn’t specified beyond IMRA
  • Young – For the $40, didn’t see where this is partitioned by subject, do ISDs have to use the entire IMRA suite?
    • Morath – They do not, look at it like a gift card for a particular store, they can buy all, some, or nothing
  • Young – So it’s like a $40 credit? If they don’t spend the whole $40?
    • Morath – They hold onto it and can use it in the next year
  • Maynard – But it’s actually $60
    • Morath – Yes, $20 does not roll, $40 does
  • Chair Ellis – Two things, 1) timeframe, intention is to bring draft of starting doc to November meeting
  • Chair Ellis – Amendment that common core is not suitable for TX children was brought to my attention, will be voting for that; encourages other SBOE members to bring amendments to discuss in November
  • Chair Ellis – If we can’t get this done before, already anticipating special called SBOE meeting in December for quality and process, and can discuss suitability then
  • Kinsey – How do we intend to discuss what goes in each one if they aren’t on the same timeline?
    • Chair Ellis – TEA will be participating along the way, will get to second reading and final adoption together
  • Kinsey – Intent is to get to second reading at the same time?
    • Chair Ellis – Yes, intent is to get to second reading on both in January
  • Francis – General guidelines to expect for quality and suitability? Definition?
    • Chair Ellis – Can send something out, would be my opinion
    • TEA could send something out and it would be their opinion