School District's Special Ed Program 'Needs Intervention'

PFLUGERVILLE, TX -- The school district’s special education program “needs intervention” toward improvement, according to regulators.

In the most recent schools progress report by Texas Education Agency officials, the Pflugerville ISD program is required to create and implement an improvement plan to address detected shortcomings. The findings are part of the TEA’s annual Texas Academic Performance Report that examines school districts’ performances statewide.

The Pflugerville Pflag newspaper, a sister publication of the Austin American-Statesman, examined the issue more closely as part of a report.

In an email, TEA spokeswoman Lauren Callahan told the Pflugerville Pflag the classification means the district’s special-ed program needs “performance-based monitoring interventions” and provide a plan of corrective action to the state.

The report does not outline the reasons why the intervention is required or the specific portions of its curriculum requiring corrective action.

But Annette Villerot, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, told the Pflugerville Pflag in a statement the district had already identified needed areas of improvement and drafted an intervention plan even before the TEA released its report.

“For every curriculum area that was presented on the TAPR report, there is a specific action plan associated with it,” she said. “Each department implements its program plan into their goals and monitors them throughout the year for progress.

“We also determined, based on the data, which campuses need specific support and ensure that they receive that support from the curriculum team,” Villerot told the newspaper.

Overall, the district secured a “met standard” designation from the TEA. In relatively recent times, the TEA has assigned one of two ratings – “met standard” or “improvement required” – in ascertaining overall, cumulative performance of a school district.

The pair of categories replace more nuanced categorizations ranging from “exemplary” to “academically unacceptable” that were long used as part of the agency’s methodology toward assigning categories.

In a prior interview, a TEA spokeswoman explained the revamped terminology as a way to avoid labels from the past that could be viewed as demeaning, however inadvertently.

The Round Rock ISD also secured a “met standard” in its accountability rating. In assessing its special education program, RRISD received a “meets requirements” determination from regulators.

To see the full Pflugerville ISD TEA report, click here.