Graduation Plan Requirements: House Bill 5 (HB 5), passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013, made substantial changes to the state's curriculum and graduation requirements, assessment program, and accountability system. HB 5 restructured the state's graduation requirements, moving from the "4x4" graduation plan to a Foundation High School Program that allows students to earn endorsements in specific areas of study by completing four additional credits. The endorsements include STEM; business & industry; public service; arts & humanities; and multidisciplinary studies.
AISD graduation plan checklist
Communities and Student Engagement Rating:
House Bill 5: Communities and Student Engagement Rating
Posted on 04/01/2014
House Bill 5, passed into law at the 83rd session of the Texas Legislature, created many positive changes for public education. Many have referred to it as the most well-known bill since HB 72 in 1984, the legislation commonly referred to as “no pass no play.”
Sometimes it can be difficult to get a clear comprehensive picture of how schools are really performing simply due to the overemphasis on standardized testing. Schools are known by their “rating,” determined by these tests. Most students spend 3 or 4 days out of the school year taking these tests, but what can we learn about the business of learning that takes place on the other 170+ days? The purpose of Texas Education Code 39.0545, the part of HB 5 tied directly to this new rating, is to evaluate student and community engagement, showcasing areas where schools are excelling while identifying areas where improvement can be made. It’s about much more than what happens on test day.
The Community and Student Engagement Rating gives schools this opportunity to perform a self-evaluation by taking a close look at campus and district performance in 8 factors of community and student engagement and one factor of policy compliance.
The 9 factors to be evaluated are: fine arts, wellness/physical education, community/parent involvement, 21st Workforce development program, 2nd language acquisition program, digital language acquisition program, dropout prevention strategies, educational programs for GT students, and compliance with statutory reporting/policy requirements. A local committee must determine the criteria that will be used to rate each of these factors.
The Legislature did not specify who should be on this committee or how many times they will meet. The only requirement in statute is that the district must use the criteria developed by the committee to evaluate itself and the campuses. Districts must then assign the district and each campus a rating of exemplary, recognized, acceptable and unacceptable for each factor. Ratings must be submitted to the Texas Education Agency and made available publicly on August 8.
For more information about the community and student engagement rating in Athens ISD please call 903-677-6950.