Arlington ISD: AI miscoring error altered dozens of STAAR/EOC results; district to file appeals

Arlington ISD trustees were told Aug. 21 that a vendor error prevented the state from processing the district's June rescore submissions for AI-scored open-response (ECR) items, and that rescored human reviews, once completed, changed outcomes at dozens of campuses.

The rescore review was prompted by the district's decision to submit selected English open-response and STAR reading assessments for human rescoring. Doctor Natalie Lopez, who led the district update to the board, said Arlington submitted 4,370 assessments in June for human rescoring and was later informed by testing vendor Cambium that "our rescore results were not — didn't make it all the way through." She said TEA later expedited an investigation and rescoring but "these results are not going to make it in time for the August 15 rating released to the public."

The rescored files, Doctor Lopez said, produced measurable score increases: districtwide, 21% of submitted tests showed a raw- or scale-score increase and 14% resulted in a performance-level change. At the school level she reported that six campuses' letter grades would have risen on the Aug. 15 release (Owsley Junior High, Duff Elementary, Hill Elementary, Peach Elementary, Berry Elementary and, after further analysis, Arlington High). Districtwide she said 30% of campuses…