As of 06/13/2024 the A-F Rating System 2024 reports section has been opened under the OnDataSuite Accountability Section and we are ready to receive the the date files required to start calculating the A-F section of the system.
Please note that the A-F Domain reports should only be considered preliminary at this time, as they are based on the early release preliminary assessment files and we are still working through any programmatic issues as they arise.
Districts are reminded that as we begin this new year we will be calculating your results based on uploaded data files that are presumed to be complete and formatted as designated by TEA as published on the TEA Data File Formats website for the 2024 year. https://tea.texas.gov/student-assessment/testing/student-assessment-overview/data-file-formats
Accuracy of initially reported results
Historically we will utilize the first few days/weeks to confirm that system-wide uploaded files do not have issues with formatting or incorrect data and that our code is working. This means that we will be pushing items daily/weekly as we test to ensure the reasonableness and accuracy of each domain and in some cases may need to update code to recalculate this data.
This page will provide up-to-date information on any changes made to the 2024 A-F reporting sections located in the OnDataSuite Accountability section
Reminder about A-F reporting accuracy
Just a reminder. The process of calculating A-F each year involves multiple items that can affect the final calculation of the results, and as such can take some time on our end to make sure that the reported PRELIMINARY A-F predictions are as accurate as possible.
Please remember that OnDataSuite programmers can program our reports in accordance with TEA guidance from the latest manual specifications, but until we have all data files from several districts in and available to test, there is no way for us to determine how accurate our A-F reports are until we have run them for multiple districts and district feedback via the ticket system lets us know they are as accurate as possible.
As the first few days of data files start to come in and are calculated, we rely on YOU, our district users, to help us determine if our reporting is accurately reporting for the current year. Please read the items below and then if you have issues this year, create a ticket and make sure to provide as much detail as possible when describing why you feel the report is incorrect. A good example of what we need would be if your ticket gives specific student examples (Last name/local ID) that should or should not be included in counts, what domain you are inquiring about and screenshots if possible that shows the total value(s) you are referring to.
Are our calculations accurate?
We are calculating the results using the methodology provided via the TEA 2024 Accountability Manual. However, if the files you are uploading have issues with the vendor, or if the file is missing, then the calculation will not be accurate. If the assessment file you uploaded was replaced by the vendor with a new file, then you may need to request that the original file be removed
Is all of your data uploaded coming from a valid file?
Please make sure that ALL required files have been uploaded. This happens each year. A district will need to verify that all required files have been uploaded.
For detailed information on required file uploads please visit this KB article
https://kb.ondatasuite.com/knowledge-base/a-f-domain-file-status-report/
Did you review your data for data reasonableness?
After you load a file, please utilize the Assessment, reporting features in OnDataSuite to determine that the files you loaded make data sense. For example, if you know you have approximately 300 EOC A1 testers and you only are seeing 100, that is a clear sign that the uploaded files are lacking. Additionally, make sure that the numerator and denominator values being used to calculate your A-F reports are accurate. Do this by drilling down into the student lists and making sure all your kids are there. This can be done first with the smallest sample (select one campus to review) versus trying to determine reasonableness on the grand scale (district-wide).
Required A-F Reporting File Upload Information
For detailed information on required file uploads that are used to calculate the 2024 A-F reporting section please visit the following KB article https://kb.ondatasuite.com/knowledge-base/a-f-domain-file-status-report/
| 2024 Update Log All updates/changes to the A-F system will be posted to this page. In most cases, these updates will be pushed out to your system the evening of the post unless otherwise noted. Users who would like for a posted update to be applied to their A-F reports immediately can submit a support ticket with the subject line of ‘Please refresh my A-F System’ Over the next few days/weeks the 2024 A-F reporting system will continue to be updated and refined based on found issues and user support ticket feedback. If you have submitted a ticket that has been resolved by any posted patch item below, we ask that you kindly let us know that your issue has been resolved so that we can close your ticket. | |
| 6/26/24 | Domain 2 updates Resolved an issue with the Domain 2 Total drill-down where not all students were being displayed. Although they were included in the calculations, they were missing from the drill-down list. Resolved an issue in Domain 2 where Relative Performance that was using AEA Retest Growth was excluding rating. |
| 6/25/24 | Update AEA Campuses for Domain 2 Part B Update AEA Campuses for Domain 2 Part B to include Retest Growth Methodology. Updated Domain 2 to use TEA’s Campus 3-12 Enrollment list Updated Domain 2 Campus 3-12 Enrollment and Eco Disadvantage percent to source from TEA’s Campus 3-12 Enrollment List https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/accountability/academic-accountability/performance-reporting/gr3-12-enrollment-list.pdf Updated Domain 3 Growth Component The Domain 3 Growth Component for the prior year’s High Focus contained a typographical error, resulting in the display of an incorrect column from the ‘Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table’ |
| 6/24/24 | SAT/ACT Inclusion Updated SAT/ACT Inclusion methodology. Domain 2 Academic Growth Part A Updated 2024 STAAR Raw Scores and Scale Scores Associated with the Calculation of School Progress, Part A: Academic Growth within the A–F Accountability System and STAAR Raw Scores and Scale Scores Associated with High and Low Did Not Meet for Science and Social Studies Domain 3 Student Growth Update Domain 3 Student Growth to use the ‘Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table’ High Focus data for the prior year. Update Years in US Schools Update the TELPAS Years in US Schools to source data from TELPAS data files instead of STAAR data files. This change is necessary because the STAAR 2024 data file no longer reports this data for any years in US schools other than year 2. This issue was causing EB students/ELs reported in TIDE as being in their first year in U.S. schools to not be excluded from accountability performance calculations. |
| 6/21/24 | Upcoming A&A Collaborative Q&A session posted The next Assessment & Accountability Collaborative #2 will be held on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 1:00 PM. This session will cover all A-F reporting items we have encountered over the last two weeks. You can sign up for this and ALL future 2024-25 sessions by clicking on the ‘training’ link located at the top of the OnDataSuite/OnPoint menu. CCMR Verifier File Upload Issue Resolved We understand that some districts have had issues with the upload of the 2024 CCMR Verifier file. We have updated the supporting KB article with screenshots and clearer instructions on how to download the file(s) from TEAL. If you had issues with this upload, please review the updated KB article, then delete the CCMR Verifier files that you had previously loaded and re-upload your new files. Updated CCMR Verifier KB article https://kb.ondatasuite.com/knowledge-base/teal-ccr-verifier-file/ After your upload your files should appear in your file center as follows: Currentyear_CCMR_Verifier_00000.XLS will load into the 2022-2023 Data Year If you uploaded a listing file, this will be last years file and it will be placed in the 2021-2022 data year location. This is not a required file for this years 2024 A-F Calculation. |
| 6/20/24 | Important note regarding the Closing the Gaps data files required to calculate Domain 3 The data for your two lowest performers and prior year rates are sourced from the 2022 Accountability Reports, due to the absence of TEA released data for 2023. (The release of these reports is pending judicial ruling and decisions from the 88th Legislature during a special called session) For a precise evaluation, please download the TEAL posted 2023 “Campus Closing the Gaps Data Table” from your TEAL account as described in the following KB article https://kb.ondatasuite.com/knowledge-base/loading-teal-campus-closing-the-gaps-domain-data-table/ |
| 6/19/24 | Posted 4:51 CST Fixed an issue in Domain 3 Closing the Gaps that would cause High Focus for prior year to not display and calculate. Posted 4:10 CST Fixed an issue with Lowest 2 Performers being pulled from “Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table” Updated the methodology for identifying new campuses, this fixes an issue where campuses were being identified as new and using the states default values. Changed the precision on the Lead4ward report’s scores to round to tenth place, previously was to whole numbers. Added provision for 3 D’s rule: If the Student Achievement domain scaled score is 70 or higher, this provision will not be applied. Added provision for 3 F’s rule : if the Student Achievement domain scaled score is 60 or higher, this provision will not be applied Posted 2:17 CST If you have loaded the ‘Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table’ prior year data for Domain 3 Closing the Gaps: Academic Achievement – High Focus will be derived from this data. All other components still calculate prior year high focus from TSDS due to lack of this element in the ‘Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table’ data file Posted 1:14 CST Resolved an issue in Domain 3 where prior year numbers from the “Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table” were incorrectly pulling data from last year’s file instead of this year’s. This error caused miscalculations. The Domain 1 Graduation component was rounding values before scaling, which occasionally resulted in incorrect scaling. |
| 6/17/24 | Update to the Domain File Status Viewer Fixed issue in the domain file status viewer that was showing alt files listed as ‘x’ not loaded. Districts that loaded an alt file earlier should now see a green check mark to indicate the ALT file was loaded. Know issue with Closing the Gaps upload We are aware that there are issues with the upload of the Closing the Gaps file upload process and we are working on that this week. Districts who have submitted a ticket with issues associated with this file will receive a response via the ticket system to let you know when the issue has been resolved and we will also post to this update log once the fix and patch are going out. Know issue with Domain 3 ELPS calculation We are aware of the issue where the domain 3 ELPS portion is not calculating. Districts who have submitted a ticket with issues associated with this file will receive a response via the ticket system to let you know when the issue has been resolved and we will also post to this update log once the fix and patch are going out. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please check back regularly for updates. |
| 6/14/24 | A-F Updates 06.13.2024 – Posted 1:45 CST Updated excel export to mirror current design of 2024 A-F reports By default, the ‘Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table’ file will be used for updating the Closing the Gaps Domain 3 if it has been uploaded. Updates to the Closing the Gaps Domain 3 for 2024 will use state rates and lowest performers for new campuses for new campuses, including those that were new in 2023. Since TEA has not released the current data, we will use prior year data to calculate defaults. However, if you have uploaded your ‘Campus Closing the Gaps Domain Data Table,’ it will override these defaults. The new lead4ward Report STAAR Report is available now to all lead4ward accountability connect users under the accountability tab in the following folder: lead4ward: accountabilityconnect Users that do not have access to Accountability Connect or users that wish to sign up for Accountability Connect will need to contact John Fessenden at [email protected] |
| Update Log items posted prior to A-F Release 6/13/24 (Prep-Stage Items) | |
| 6/12/24 | Announcement – We will be releasing the 2024 A-F reporting section 06/13/24 In today’s Assessment & Accountability Collaborative meeting we announced that we will be releasing the 2024 A-F Reporting sections tomorrow morning (06/13/24) using the preliminary student data files. RESTRICTING ACCESS TO A-F REPORTS By default, all A-F reports will be accessible to any user who has been granted access to the ‘Accountability’ section of OnDataSuite. For districts that wish to restrict access to their A-F reporting we have created the following support article that explains in detail how this is done. https://kb.ondatasuite.com/knowledge-base/2024-a-f-reports-restricting-access/ For districts who asked for the recording link to todays A&A Collaborative meeting the recorded zoom session and supporting slides will be posted tomorrow. |
| 6/11/24 | Reminder of Assessment & Accountability (A&A) Collaborative meeting tomorrow 6/12/24 – Agenda Items Posted Our Bi-weekly A&A Collaborative meeting scheduled for tomorrow at 1:00 CST. Users can register by going into their OnDataSuite account and registering under the ‘training’ tab and searching for ‘OnDataSuite – Assessment & Accountability Collaborative’ Agenda Items to be covered 1. Current status of 2024 A-F release using prelim data 2. Discussion of files that are still needed 3. Discussion of user role setup to restrict access of 2024 A-F reports 4. Discussion of user settings needed to receive future A&A Collaborative mailouts 5. Discussion of finalized A&A Collaborative schedule & sign up availability 6. Hot Topic – Use of Focus lists on CCMR EWS reporting 7. Open Forum |
| 6/7/24 | TEA TEAL Posting 4-5-6 Year Longitudinal Graduation Files Districts should now have access to their 4,5 & 6 year longitudinal graduation files. These files will need to be uploaded for use in the upcoming calculation 2024 A-F Please download your files from TEAL and upload them into your OnDataSuite file center into the ‘Final Graduation Longitudinal Cohorts’ file center location. Supporting KB article: https://kb.ondatasuite.com/knowledge-base/final-grad-and-dropout/ Districts will notice that our supporting KB article images for this section are a bit outdated. If any district can take a few screenshots that support what this years 2024 TEAL process looks like and send it to us that would be greatly appreciated. To submit your images, please create a support ticket with the subject line that says “Attention John W: TEAL FGLC Images” and I will get the KB article updated. |
| 6/7/24 | Announcement – Status update addressing questions we have had since our last Accountability & Assessment Group meeting When will the 2024 A-F section be turned on under the Accountability section of OnDataSuite Our release timeline depends on the files our districts receive. In the past, inaccurate or missing data in preliminary files led to incorrect accountability rating projections. To prevent this, our tentative release date for the A-F section aligns with the district upload of Student Final (SF) Files. We aim to activate the 2024 A-F system in late July, coinciding with the final STAAR 3-8 release on Friday, July 19, 2024. https://www.texasassessment.gov/-/media/project/client-portals/texas/pdf/general-resources/2023-2024-calendar-of-events.pdf What if my district feels like their Student Preliminary files are accurate and want to use them to review assessment reporting outside of A-F prediction? We do understand that some districts may want to use their Student Preliminary (SP) files to begin their calculation of A-F as well as start to review campus results under the A-F reporting section of OnDataSuite. This option was also discussed in our initial Q&A meeting, and we are still in the process of reviewing the files our districts are loading to see if this option will still be available. So far, the SP EOC files that were provided to districts on 6/4/24 appear to be working without issue but we still encourage our districts to check their current SP EOC files for data reasonableness in total student counts and spot check for any data that may be missing or incorrect such as demographic or special population counts. Possible turning on of the 2024 A-F system after review period of upcoming STAAR 3-8 preliminary files sometime mid-June. We are now waiting for the release of the SP STAAR 3-8 prelim files scheduled for 6/11/24. After we have had time to review and TEST these files, we hope to have a clearer picture as to whether the SP files can be used in the absence of the SF files to serve as an advanced preliminary review of district accountability data. Again, we unfortunately cannot provide our districts with a release date because we do not know what the data files will contain. We are hopeful that we can turn it around shortly after our districts begin to upload their preliminary files on 6/11/24 and we have had a few days to review the data in those files. If these files are in working order it is possible that we may be able to turn on the 2024 A-F system for our districts as early as 6/17/24. |
| 5/23/24 | Announcement of OnDataSuite Accountability 2024 Q&A – Status update meeting #2 Scheduled for Friday May 31, 20244 We will be hosting our second A-F status meeting on Friday May 31, 2024 and will be posting the registration link sometime tomorrow (5/24) under the OnDataSuite training page section. Tentative agenda items for this meeting will include: Discussion of A-F reporting area restriction/release role assignment progress Review of OnDataSuite Accountability & Assessment Group future calendar dates |
| 5/21/24 | Question about release of upcoming A-F We have started to receive tickets from districts questioning when the preliminary A-F accountability ratings will be available. These questions were addressed in the first A-F Q&A Session we provided on 04/26/24 As a reminder, we are anticipating being able to calculate district A-F by sometime mid July when all available final files are available. We do not plan on using the prelim files for any prelim prediction. However, if preliminary files do contain the data necessary to for the system to start the calculations, we may be able to start the calculations by mid June. It just depends of the files. Our system is ready to calculate the data IF all the required files contain the necessary information AND if all files are available for ALL associated calculations. Suggested A-F support video to watch If you were not able to attend our April A-F session, we highly recommend watching our first A-F Q&A session titled “OnDataSuite Accountability 2024 Q&A – Preparation Stage” presented on 04/26/24. The video and supporting handout can be found under the ‘Training’ tab in your OnDataSuite account using the keyword “Accountability” Key items addressing this subject can be found in the following sections of the video link: Mark 32:40 – We discuss the anticipated preliminary release date of A-F Mark 33:43 – We show the testing release calendar and discuss dates that we are planning to use for A-F Accountability |
| 5/09/24 | OnDataSuite Accountability 2024 Q&A – Status update meeting 05/10/24 Agenda Items Posted The following items will be discussed in the upcoming 05/10/24 OnDataSuite Accountability 2024 Q&A Session. If you wish to sign up, please visit the Training page from within your OnDataSuite account and register. 1. Provide update on status of file center upload status report 2. Review updated Supplement File and how it will affect the CCMR EWS and A-F until the Verifier is loaded. 3. Request feedback on suggested monthly accountability meeting day/time 4. John Fessenden of lead4ward will provide updates on accountability connect/ OnDataSuite reporting 5. Open Forum Q&A |
| 4/22/24 | A-F Setup – Preliminary Q&A Zoom sessions added to OnDataSuite training page We have added 2 online Zoom Q&A sessions to help districts prepare for the upcoming 2024 OnDataSuite calculation of their preliminary/predicted A-F accountably. Users may register for these sessions by going into their OnDataSuite account and clicking on the ‘Training’ tab in the topmost menu bar in black. Search for keyword ‘Accountability’ and make sure to click the register button. For those that cannot make it, all sessions will be recorded. Q&A Session 1 – We will go over required file center uploads, discuss timelines of anticipated report release and open this session up for any questions districts my have. Session date: Friday 04/26/24 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Q&A Session 2 – This session is scheduled for two weeks after the first Q&A to provide progress details and answer any in depth questions from our districts Session date: Friday 05/10/24 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM |