Background

District Dashboard Metrics

English Language Learners (ELL) are an important and large segment of the school aged population. The English Language Learner metrics indicates Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) scores and corresponding language levels for ELL students. Moreover, in focus groups with over 2,600 Texas educators, the English Language Learner metric was repeatedly called out as necessary for classroom educators. 

Primary Metric

  • TELPAS: percentage of students at each of the four TELPAS proficiency levels. For a definition of the proficiency levels and acronyms, see the Appendix on this page. 

User Interface

Dashboard Example

Figure 1 shows the TELPAS metric as seen on the district dashboard.

Figure 1  TSDS TELPAS Metric

Status Definition

The Status column displays the percentage of students who achieve an Advanced level of proficiency by grade level (either 6th, 7th and 8th grades for middle school or 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades for high school). For a definition of each proficiency level, see the Appendix for this metric.

The Status indicator is determined by the district goal.  The TSDS default threshold is 85% of students taking the test achieving the appropriate level of proficiency for thier grade level (beginner for PK-4, Intermediate 5-9, Advanced High 10-12).

Table 2 Metric Status Indicator for TSDS District TELPAS

Metric Indicator

 

Metric Name

Metric Status  Indicator
(a)

Campus Attainment

TELPAS

Red (Percentage) = if percentage of students at or above proficiency for their grade level is less than district goal

Green (Percentage) if percentage of students at or above proficiency for their grade level is greater than or equal to district goal

The number of campuses meeting their campus goal over the number of campuses with data for the metric

 

Trends

Currently the dashboards do not support trends for this district metric.  The UI supports trends, but the ETL packages have not been developed.

Trend Indicators

Table 3 Trend Indicators for TSDS TELPAS

Trend Indicators: Objective is to indicate TELPAS

Up green

If the value for the current time frame is more than 5 percentage points higher than the prior time frame, then display a gray arrow trending upward.

Unchanged

If the value for the current time frame is less than or equal to 5 percentage points higher or less than or equal to 5 percentage points lower than the prior time frame, then display two gray arrows pointing outward indicating no direction.

Down red

If the value for the current time frame is more than 5 percentage points lower than the prior time frame, then display a gray arrow trending downward.

The trend does not show for the first occurrence of a time frame since data is not available.

Delta Definition

The delta appears only in the campus list and displays the individual campus goals rather than the district goal.

Table 4 Delta Indicators for TSDS TELPAS

Delta Indicators: Objective is to indicate TELPAS

Metric Name

Campus Goal

Delta

TELPAS

Set campus goal

Red (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is less than the campus goal

Black (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is equal to or greater than the campus goal

Periodicity

Best practice is to load the data for this metric at least annually prior to the beginning of the school year. Given that TELPAS  is administered in the spring time, the data does not need to be uploaded monthly. 

Table 5 Recommended Load Characteristics for TSDS TELPAS 

Recommended Load Characteristics

Calendar

Spring Semester

Frequency of data load

Spring

Latency

Yearly

Interchange schema

Interchange-StudentAssessment.xsd

 

Tooltips

The standard tool tips for the metric definition, column headers, and help functions display for this metric.

The following are tooltips specific to the metric:

  • Green metric status: OK
  • Red metric status: LOW
  • 'More' indicates drill down views for this metric
  • is ‘No change from the prior period'
  • is ‘Getting worse from the prior period’
  • is 'Getting better from the prior period'

Business Rules

The English Language Learner assessment addresses the TELPAS examinations.

Students in grades K-12 may take the TELPAS. 

Data Assumptions

  • The student data is loaded into the Ed-Fi.
  • Transfer students (late enrollment) who do not have complete transcripts should be indicated.

Computed Values

Table 6 defines how values are calculated for this metric. The result of the calculation displays in the Status column on the campus dashboard.

Table 6 Computed Values for TELPAS Metric

Metric Values

TELPAS

Total number of students at or above the proficiency level for their grade level / Total number of students taking the TELPAS

Data Anomalies

Anomalies

The best practice is to footnote to address these anomalies:

  • Late enrollees may have taken assessment examinations tests at their previous school
  • Students that do not have social security numbers
  • Students who do not have valid scores, i.e. 0.0.

Date of Refresh

Best practice is for the date of last data refresh to appear next the metric in the following format:

  • (Through April 2010)

Implementation Considerations

TELPAS Participation Expectation

The TELPAS examination may be taken from 2nd through 12th grades. Proper application of the metric requires the district or campus to establish clear expectations for when students should take the examination, and if a student has not taken any language assessment, at what point an intervention is in order.

Apparent Non-Participation

 Assuming that the district has received and loaded timely test result data from TELPAS, students who did not participate in the test can be identified by the report comments. Table 7 defines the report comments.

Table 7 Report Comment Definitions

Report Comment

Definition of Code

EC = EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES

Student could not be rated because of extenuating circumstances.

- - -  NO RATING / INFORMATION AVAILABLE

Student did not take TELPAS reading or comprehension and composite information could not be determined because the appropriate language-area proficiency ratings were not available.

AB =  NOT TESTED—ABSENT

Student was absent during the TELPAS reading test.

X =  NOT TESTED—ARD DECISION

Student did not participate on the basis of special education needs as determined by his or her admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee in conjunction with the language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC) and documented in the student's individualized education program.

O = NOT SCORED—OTHER 

TELPAS reading score code was coded “OTHER” due to a test administration irregularity or illness during testing.

Incomplete Transcripts and Missing TELPAS Scores

Transfer students may have incomplete transcripts that do not show prior TELPAS participation. Timely acquisition of a transfer student’s transcript is imperative to apply this metric.

TELPAS and STAAR Considerations

In an effort to ensure a strong link between academic language proficiency as defined through TELPAS and academic achievement as defined by STAAR, the TELPAS exam may be adjusted.

Drill Downs

Drill Down Views

The dashboards include the option to see more detail that is associated with a specific metric. Table 8 lists the drill down views that are recommended for this metric.

Table 8 TSDS TELPAS Metric Drill Down Views
Campus ListList of all campuses and whether or not they are meeting their campus goal

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