Assignment of District Accreditation Statuses (2016-2017)

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February 3, 2017 

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

Subject: Assignment of District Accreditation Statuses (2016-2017)

The assignment of district accreditation statuses is required by Texas Education Code (TEC), Chapter 39, Public School System Accountability, and authorized in 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Chapter 97, Planning and Accountability, Subchapter EE, Accreditation Status, Standards, and Sanctions. Subchapter EE of Chapter 97 defines the accreditation statuses of Accredited, Accredited-Warned, Accredited-Probation, and Not Accredited-Revoked and states how accreditation statuses are determined and assigned to school districts, including definitions, purpose, and oversight appointments. The commissioner's rules related to accreditation may be viewed at the Texas Administrative Code link available at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/index.html, and additional information regarding the assignment of accreditation statuses to districts can be found on the Accreditation Status homepage of the Texas Education Agency (TEA or agency) website at http://tea.texas.gov/accredstatus/.

The purpose of this letter is to notify districts, including charter schools, that, under the authority of TEC §39.051 and §39.052 and 19 TAC §97.1055, TEA will assign accreditation statuses to districts for the 2016-2017 year. Accreditation status results will be posted publicly to the TEA website on February17, 2017, on the Accreditation Status homepage athttp://tea.texas.gov/accredstatus/. When accessing the website, users will be able to sort accreditation results by clicking on a grid column heading to sort ascending or descending. Additionally, the results may be filtered using the search feature or by selecting pre-defined values from the column pick lists. Background information regarding the assignment of accreditation statuses to school districts also will continue to be posted to this site.

Prior to the 2016-2017 public posting of statuses, districts will be able to view their individual accreditation status results by accessing the Intervention Stage and Activity Manager(ISAM) application through the Texas Education Agency Secure Environment (TEASE) application at seguin.tea.state.tx.us/apps/app_list.asp. Accreditation status results for individual districts will be posted to ISAM on February 10, 2017, and the assigned status will be displayed in an information panel on the Event Summary screen.

Districts that are assigned a status of Accredited are not required to take any specific action as a result of the designation. However, districts that are assigned a status of Accredited-Warned, Accredited-Probation, or Not Accredited-Revoked must take specific actions to notify the parents of students enrolled in the district and property owners in the district. The requirements for public notification are specified in 19 TAC §97.1055(f), and a template that reflects the TEA-required format and language for the public notice is posted to the TEA website at http://tea.texas.gov/accredstatus/. Districts with an accreditation status below Accredited may be subject to additional accreditation sanctions as referenced in 19 TAC Chapter 97, Planning and Accountability, Subchapter EE. Districts that are assigned a status of Accredited-Warned, Accredited-Probation, or Not Accredited-Revoked will receive individual correspondence from the agency detailing required next steps and opportunities for review of the status assignment.

We appreciate the ongoing support of districts as the agency continues to implement accreditation requirements. If, after reviewing the TEA website, you have questions regarding the assignment of accreditation statuses to school districts, please contact your regional education service center or the Division of Governance at (512) 463-5899 or via e-mail at accred@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,

A.J. Crabill
Deputy Commissioner of Governance