Report: Special education program needs ‘intervention’

The Pflugerville school district’s special education program is in need of an “intervention,” and staff must create and implement an improvement plan to address it, a state academic report said.

The Texas Education Agency gave a “needs intervention” status to the district’s special-education program as part of its Texas Academic Performance Report, which shows a broad picture of the Pflugerville school district’s performance through the 2014-15 school year.

TEA spokeswoman Lauren Callahan said the “needs intervention” status means the district’s special-education program needs “performance-based monitoring interventions” and must have a specific improvement plan to address indicators within the data given to the state. The report does not explain why or which parts of the program need intervention.

Annette Villerot, the school district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said in a statement that staff developed an intervention plan prior to the TEA releasing the report.

Within Region 13, 26 of the 74 school districts have created similar intervention plans, according to Pflugerville school district officials. The region includes school districts in 16 Central Texas counties, including Williamson and Travis.

Villerot said the district uses data in the report to determine which specific areas need focus and support. “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.”

The report also ensures the district is meetings the needs of each ethnic group, Villerot said, as well as special populations like English-language learners and special-needs students.

The district received a “Met Standard” accountability rating for the 2014-15 school year — it met target scores on all performance data.

The report shows that most Pflugerville students on average performed slightly higher on the STAAR than the state average, but slightly lower than average for the region. For the STAAR, 80 percent of district students received at least a satisfactory standard grade in 2014-15, the report says. The state average is 77 percent.

For the Class of 2014, SAT scores averaged 1413 in the district, compared with 1417 statewide and 1513 regionally.

According to TEA data, 43 students in grades 7-12 dropped out during the 2013-14 school year. The district dropout rate was 0.4 percent for grades 7-12, while the average dropout rate is 2.2 percent for the state and 1.3 percent for the region.

Per state requirement, parents of students should receive a condensed version of the report within the next couple weeks.