ESC-17 Accountability Connection

Both 2024 and 2025 A-F Accountability ratings were posted today in superintendents' TEAL accounts. Ratings will be made be available to the public on August 15 via TXschools.gov. Superintendents of schools that are required to engage in interventions will be contacted by TEA as well as ESC-17 School Improvement Specialist Tori Mitchell.

Schools who wish to file an appeal to their A-F ratings have 30 days to do so, which means the appeals deadline should be September 12.

I have enjoyed my time as the regional Accountability Specialist Lead. I am currently transitioning into a new role at ESC-17. Christa Ritchey will be assuming the role of School Accountability Specialist Lead. For the next few weeks, you can bring your accountability questions to either me or Christa.

Christa Ritchey-- critchey@esc17.net

Janet Thornton--jthornton@esc17.net

The TXschools.gov Communications Toolkit for 2025 ratings is now available. The Toolkit was created to help districts and campuses provide families the information they need to better understand their child’s school rating.

The Toolkit consists of working documents, including FAQs, social media templates, one-pagers, and email content, that districts and campuses can customize.

Make plans to join us at ESC-17 on September 3, 2025, for the 2025 Accountability Symposium. We will guide district and campus leaders to understand their own accountability data and the methodology that is used to determine ratings. We will also have a session for district leaders to write goals for early literacy and math and CCMR, in accordance with HB-3 requirements. Register HERE

CCMR is vitally important to A-F Accountability ratings for high schools, K-12s and districts. To get the latest CCMR updates, make plans to attend the ESC-17 2025 CCMR Symposium. Scan the code or click on the linked photo below.

The preliminary 2025-30 list of industry-based certifications (IBCs) to be used for public school accountability is now posted on the Industry-Based Certifications page of the TEA website. The new list of IBCs takes effect in the 2025-26 school year and will apply to accountability ratings issued in August 2027. There are 474 IBCs on the preliminary 2025-30 list, up from 309 from the 2022-25 list.

Subject to the rulemaking process for the 2027 accountability manual, IBCs that were on the 2022-25 list but will not be on the 2025-30 list are subject to a one-year sunsetting period. During this one-year period, school systems may continue to report IBCs from the 2022-25 list for both accountability and reimbursement purposes for the class of 2026. Of note, at present there are only 23 IBCs from the old list being removed from the new list.

To develop the new list, all IBCs on the current 2022-25 list, credentials on the TWC Inventory of Industry-Recognized Credentials List, state and federal licenses, as well as newly submitted IBCs, were reviewed. A total of 2,036 unique IBCs were considered against the following criteria as outlined in 19 TAC §74.1003:

1. Meets the definition of a certification

2. Industry recognized and valued

3. Attainable by a high school student

4. Portable

5. Capstone or end-of-program

Additional Requirements:

· The assessment to obtain the IBC is not open book, open reference, and does not allow limitless retake opportunities without remediation or remuneration

· The IBC is attainable by high school students and adult professionals in the workforce

The following resources are available on the Industry-Based Certifications page of the TEA website:

· Preliminary 2025-2030 IBC List

· Comprehensive 2025 IBC Evaluation Results

· Preliminary IBCs to Program of Study Crosswalk

· Industry-Based Certification List Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

· Industry-Based Certification List Overview (key updates to the list)

The final 2025-2030 IBC list will be available October 15, 2025.

Please contact Heather Blount with questions regarding industry-based certifications for accountability purposes.

hblount@esc17.net or 806-281-5817

The Texas School Accountability Rating System Manual for 2026 was published in the June 27, 2025, issue of the Texas Register with an effective date of June 29, 2025. The manual is available on the 2026 Accountability Manual webpage.

The adopted manual for 2026 ratings has been updated from proposed to reflect that only agency-reviewed and approved courses are eligible for College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) starting in the 2028 accountability year, with 2026-2027 graduates.

The adopted 2026 manual also includes two minimal changes to data sources that were announced when proposed and were planned for and announced during the 2023 refresh. This includes military enlistment data and TELPAS composite score data.