2016–17 School Report Cards (SRC)

PDF Version

ACTION REQUIRED

December 7, 2017

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT ADDRESSED:

The 2016–17 School Report Cards (SRC) are now available on the Texas Education Agency’s website at http://tea.texas.gov/perfreport/src/index.html.

• School Report Card—The purpose of the SRC is to inform parents and guardians about a campus’s individual characteristics and its academic performance.
  
  Distribution to Campuses. The TEA will notify each principal that the SRC for his or her campus is available. It is, however, the district’s responsibility to provide the SRC to each campus for distribution to parents and guardians.
  
  Distribution to Parents. Each campus must send a copy of the SRC to a parent or guardian of each of its students within six weeks of the date of this letter. The campus may provide the SRC in the same way that it sends other official communications to parents and guardians, such as including the SRC in a weekly folder sent home with each student, mailing it to the student's residence, providing it at a parent-teacher conference, or enclosing it with the student report card. Districts may distribute the SRC electronically if they can ensure that parents and guardians are notified that the SRC is available and that they are able to access it. A campus or district must provide a printed copy (in color or black and white) to anyone who cannot access the electronic version.
  
  At their discretion, campuses may include additional information with the SRC that highlights other performance aspects of the campus or district.
  
  All campuses that reported student enrollment in the fall 2016 PEIMS submission will have an SRC, including Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP) campuses, Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP) campuses, and campuses paired for accountability rating purposes. Because the SRC for JJAEPs, DAEPs, and paired campuses do not have STAAR performance results, districts are not required to distribute the SRC for these campuses, but may do so, if desired. Otherwise, all campuses with an SRC are required by law to distribute the SRC to parents and guardians.
  
  Campuses that opened in the 2017–18 school year will not have a 2016–17 SRC and therefore are not required to distribute a report.

• Sample Cover Letter—Districts are not required to include a cover letter with the SRC, but many schools find it helpful to provide one. A sample cover letter to parents—in both English and Spanish—is available at the link below.
  
  
• Definitions—Brief definitions of the items included in the SRC are available in both English and Spanish at the link below. Districts are not required provide definitions to parents, but many schools find it helps parents and guardians understand the reports.

For people who would like greater detail about the information in the SRC, the 2016–17 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) Glossary is a useful resource. It contains definitions and sources of data for all the information included in the SRC. The data in the SRC is a subset of that published in the TAPR.

The TAPR Glossary is available on the TEA website at https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/perfreport/tapr/2017/glossary.pdf.

The administrative rules that govern the SRC (19 TAC §61.1021) are available on the TEA website at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter061/ch61bb.html.

We hope you find this material informative and helpful. If you have questions regarding the SRC, please contact the Performance Reporting Department.

Contact Information
Texas Education Agency
Office of Academics
Penny Schwinn, Chief Deputy Commissioner
Performance Reporting Department–Jamie Crowe, Director
(512) 463-9704
performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov

Attachments
School Report Card Definitions (English)
School Report Card Definitions (Spanish)
Sample Letter for Parents (English)
Sample Letter for Parents (Spanish)