Remaining problems with aggregations rules

December 5, 2006

The problems listed below and any additional errors found in the procedures for determining accountability status will be corrected before the final accountability status or schools and districts is determined and made public.

Grade 5 Equivalent NYSAA-Eligible Students and Grade 4 Science

Rule                NYSAA-eligible students should be held accountable for science only if they were born between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 1995 (grade 4 equivalent) or between July 1, 1990 and June 30, 1991 (grade 8 equivalent). Science is assessed only at grades 4 and 8. 

Error              Ungraded students who took the grade 5 NYSAA in English language arts and mathematics are showing up as not tested on the grade 4 science participation rate count and list.  Ungraded NYSAA-eligible students born between July 1, 1993 and June 30, 1994 should not be held accountable for grade 4 science and will be removed from the science participation counts.

Ungraded students beyond the age required to take grade 8 NYSAA are counted as not tested on the grade 8 participation rate counts and lists.

Rule                NYSAA-eligible ungraded students born between July 1, 1990-and June 30, 1996 are required to take the NYSAAs in English language arts and mathematics.

Error              Ungraded NYSAA eligible students who were born before July 1, 1990 are appearing as not tested on participation rate lists for grade 8 NYSAA. These students are past the age when they must take the grades 3-8 NYSAA and will be removed from the participation rate counts for grades 3-8 ELA, mathematics, and science. 

LEP students who were eligible to take the NYSESLAT but left the district or school before NYSESLAT administration are counted as not tested on the NYSESLAT.

Rule                Students who are LEP eligible, have a LEP duration of four or fewer years, and did not take the ELA general assessment or the NYSAA ELA  are eligible to use the NYSESLAT in lieu of the ELA.

Error              Some eligible students who left the district/school after the January ELA administration but before the May NYSESLAT administration were counted as not tested on the ELA.  To give the district/school the benefit of the doubt, we will assume that these students were going to take the NYSESLAT.  Students who are LEP eligible, have a LEP duration of four or fewer years, have no ELA score based on the general assessment or the NYSAA, and were not enrolled in the district or school during the entire NYSESLAT test administration period will be removed from the participation rate count for ELA.

Problems with Reports for Schools Subject to Backmapping

Rule                Schools that enroll students in grades kindergarten, 1, and 2 and do not enroll students in higher grades are subject to special accountability procedures. For schools in this group that serve students in grades 1 and/or 2, a procedure called backmapping is used to determine accountability status.  Please see the following URL for a description of this procedure: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/accountability/2005-06/accountability-rules-Nov2006.htm, slides 94 through 97.

Error              Reports for some schools whose accountability status is determined through backmapping are incorrect.  Schools in districts where all schools with grade 3 in the district made AYP in ELA or in mathematics, but not in both, have incorrect reports for the subject in which all schools did not make AYP. In that subject, data for grade 3 students coming from the feeder school must be aggregated and Performance Indices calculated to determine AYP status. This problem will be corrected.

Schools incorrectly reported as not making the Adequate Yearly Progress in science

Rule                If no AYP status in science can be determined for an accountability group that needs to use the safe harbor provision to make AYP, that group will be deemed to have met the science qualification for safe harbor.

Error              Some schools that did not enroll students in grades 4 and/or 8 and thus are not accountable for science performance were deemed to have not met the science qualification for safe harbor and were incorrectly reported as not making AYP in English language arts and/or mathematics.

Some Limited English Proficient (LEP) students were incorrectly missing from aggregations for participation rate and the performance index

Error              Students identified as LEP were not included in the aggregations for participation rate and the performance index on some district/school reports. Records for these students had the required LEP eligibility and Years of LEP Instruction fields. These students will be included in the final accountability status reports.