Some Texas schools used creative excuses when they appealed their ratings to the Texas Education Agency. An article by Joshua Benton on dallasnews.com included a few of the unusual, along with the sensible, reasons given by schools to persuade the TEA to move their ratings up a notch.
Schools blamed their performance on everything from an errant fire alarm to a student going into labor - and, in one case, parent sabotage.
In all, 160 schools or districts appealed their ratings this year - a fraction of the more than 9,000 ratings TEA hands our annually. The agency approved 62 appeals, often moving a school one rung up the rating ladder: unacceptable, acceptable, recognized, and exemplary.
One can't blame schools and districts for trying. Sometimes, one failing student from a particular subgroup prevents a school from achieving the next highest rating.
The state ratings system is based largely on the TAKS test scores of specific subgroups such as black, Hispanic, white and low-income students. A school must produce a given passing rate in each group to earn a certain rating.
The excuse about parental involvement was particularly interesting. It came from Rio Vista ISD. A student had marked "A" to all of the multiple choice questions during a TAKS practice test. School officials felt that his parents had influenced the way he responded to the real TAKS test.
"My mom says (the principal) and the school are rewarded for doing well on the TAKS test and they shouldn't be rewarded because they haven't done a good job," the child told a teacher. According to the appeal, that student was the difference between acceptable and recognized.
When denying this appeal, the TEA did not refer directly to this student's test but stated that the school's rating would need more than this to move to the next level.