Accountability report says SISD special education program needs improvement
As the state's annual report for the district has highlighted weaknesses, the special education program at Sherman Independent School District's will probably need more attention soon.
The weakness was reported in the district's annual Texas Academic Performance Report, which serves as one of the primary accountability ratings for the district and its performance.
The report serves as a valuable tool and source of information on district performance on the STAAR test, demographic information and other data. Like last year's report, the most recent report did not give a direct rating for any districts across the state and instead gave performance information without a grade. However, the report gave the district a "needs assistance" rating for its special education program.
"As you know, the pandemic was happening last year like in 2020," said Susan Whitenack, SISD assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. "All the districts and schools were not rated last year and received the :Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster" (rating) for their 2021 accountability rating."
The latest report also did not include any distinctions that a district have earned in the past year due to the ongoing pandemic and its impact on schools and instruction.
While the district did not get an overall rating, it did find that the special education program needed improvement. Whitenack said this rating was specifically tied to three criteria that the district missed.
"What that means is we will write a plan and work with our principals to write a plan, a continuous improvement plan to address the areas of need," Whitenack said.
The report found that the district needed to improve its STAAR scores for students in special education. It also noted an excess in disciplinary removal of students and an over identification of special education students in self-contained classes.
"Some of those things we can work on; some of those things we are working on continuously," Whitenack said. "We know that we want to make sure that our schools are safe, so children are disciplined. They are removed from classes and things like that."
In other findings, the report found that about 65 percent of students passed the STAAR test, and the district achieved a 50 percent rating with regard to Career, College and Military Readiness. The district also saw a 97 percent graduation rate.
In other matters, the report found that about 75 percent of SISD students were considered economically disadvantaged as of this fall. This was above the state average of 60.3 percent and the district's own rating of 70.2 from a year prior.
With regard to future testing, Whitenack said that she expects that the STAAR test will be administered this year. She has heard some rumors that there may be some accountability relief, but nothing definitive has been confirmed. However, current guidance indicates that ratings next year will be on a A through C scale, with no Ds or Fs given out, she added.
This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: Accountability report says SISD special education program needs improvement
