February 27, 2009
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED
SUBJECT: 2008-09 Coding of Former Students with Limited English Proficiency
Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data requirements for coding limited English proficient (LEP) students were expanded to collect the monitored status of students formerly identified as LEP. This letter is a reminder to districts of their responsibility to accurately code the status of current and former LEP students prior to these data being used for state and federal accountability and monitoring systems. The 2008-09 PEIMS Data Standards provides information on the LEP indicator code,
data element (E0790), and corresponding code table (C061), accessible at
LEP Indicator Code Used in State and Federal Accountability and Monitoring
The LEP indicator is critical for evaluating Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) performance and participation, the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs) required under Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act, the English Language Learners (ELL) Progress Measure used in the Academic Excellence Indicator System, and the LEP Year-After-Exit English Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Passing Rate indicators used in the Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System (PBMAS). The performance results of former LEP students who are no longer classified as LEP and are in their first year or second year of academic monitoring are included in each of these indicators, as definedby 19 TAC §89.1220(l).
Prior to the 2008-09 school year, monitored LEP status wasdetermined by the Texas Education Agency through attendance records reported in PEIMS for prior years. This information was provided to the state testing contractor for pre-coding of the student assessment answer documents for school districts that did not provide their own data file directly to the test contractor. Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, a student’s LEP status was determined and reported by districts through the PEIMS fall 2008 submission. PEIMS data reported by districts in the fall 2008 initialPEIMS submission have already been used by the state testing contractor to pre-code test answer documents for the spring 2009 test administrations. Please note that inaccurate student information in the LEP indicator fieldcould affect a district’s performance on the state and federal accountability and monitoring indicators described above.
Districts are encouraged to review all demographic and program information on the TAKS answer documents prior to submission to the test contractor for scoring.Districts may use the LEP indicator information provided in the final Fall (Submission 1) PEIMS resubmission to confirm the assessment documents submitted for the March, April, or May test administrations. The PEIMS EDIT+ report, TAKS Precoding Report(PRF5D020),provides a list of student LEP indicator values that may also be useful when confirming the information on the precoded TAKS answer documents. Since districts are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of all demographic and program information submitted in PEIMS and on the TAKS answer documents, please be aware that inaccurate coding of students’ LEP statuses will not be a reason for the agency to change any result a district receives on its AMAOs or PBMAS indicators. Please refer to the 2009 AYP Guidethat will be published in June 2009 for further information related to limited appeals of the LEP student status in the 2009 federal accountability system.
Thank you for your assistance in forwarding this important information to appropriate district and campus personnel.
Contact Information for Questions Related to Assessments
Texas Education Agency
Office of Assessment, Accountability, and Data Quality, Criss Cloudt, Associate Commissioner
Division of Student Assessment, Gloria Zyskowski, Deputy Associate Commissioner
(512) 463-9536
Contact Information for Questions Related to State and Federal Accountability and Monitoring
Texas Education Agency
Office of Assessment, Accountability, and Data Quality, Criss Cloudt, Associate Commissioner
Division of Performance Reporting, Shannon Housson, Director
(512) 463-9704
Division of Performance-Based Monitoring, Rachel Harrington, Director
(512) 936-6426
cc:EducationServiceCenter (ESC) Executive Directors
ESC and District Testing Coordinators
ESC Accountability Contacts
ESC PBM Contacts
ESC and District PEIMS Contacts
ESC and District Bilingual/ESL Contacts