August 2023 Letter

San Marcos HS Families,

I wanted to make you aware of a situation that involves a data error that will affect the High School accountability rating. Let me be perfectly clear that this error did not involve any staff at the high school. 

On August 10, 2023, our Director of Data & Accountability discovered a discrepancy in the class of 2022 graduate file when she was reviewing the four, five, and six year graduation rates for San Marcos High School as they were received by the Texas Education Agency. The class of 2022 only showed 89 total graduates, when the correct number should have been closer to 500 students. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the 2022 Fall re-submission graduate file did not include all graduates.

The cause of the error happened after the first Fall of 2022 data submission when a manual change was made in our student information system to our students who graduated in May 2022. This manual change impacted the data file output that was then uploaded to the Texas Education Agency. Unfortunately, we did not catch a data integrity error resulting in only 89 of 499 students showing as graduates in the resubmission file. I made calls on August 10, 2023 to the Deputy Commissioner and we filed an appeal which was recently denied by the Texas Education Agency. The state is aware that our data is incorrect and they have the corrected data, but they will not adjust the scores. 

What does this mean for the high school? It means that when the accountability for the high school is released, it will negatively impact the high school’s rating, which also accounts for nearly 40% of our overall district’s rating. We already knew the high school scores would drop because the Commissioner changed the rules after the Class of 2022 walked the stage, but this error will further drop their score. How does this affect graduates? It does not affect them in the slightest. This is strictly an accountability issue, not student graduation related issue. Since this error was uncovered: 

● We have implemented a temporary solution of contracting with our former PEIMS Specialist to help identify gaps and assist us with maintaining a high level of data accuracy for upcoming data submissions. The contracted specialist will be completing all PEIMS submissions until a new PEIMS Specialist is hired for the district and adequately trained.

● Our Academics team is conducting a thorough needs assessment to articulate processes and procedures for all Data related submissions. 

● Based on the results of the assessment, the District will implement measures to prevent future data integrity and submission errors. This will involve professional development for multiple personnel to ensure data integrity and data validity, identification of processes to ensure accurate data submissions, and layered safeguards as quality control checks for data integrity and error-free submissions.

I apologize that I have to write this letter. The high school students, families, and staff should not have to worry about data being incorrectly submitted. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael A. Cardona

Superintendent of Schools