When No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the bipartisan reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was new, everyone was talking about the "Texas Miracle." Texas it seemed had seen large improvement in their system of public education through strong accountability and high expectations for all students. When I saw this Dallas Morning News piece on how the state is revising its school accountability system, I couldn't help but think how far they've strayed from real accountability.

A new adjustment kicks in this year: the Texas Projection Measure. It allows schools to count students who failed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills as passing, as long as a complex formula shows that those kids are predicted to pass in a future year.

So many schools are likely to benefit from this latest academic "get out of jail free" card that it raises the question: At what point do the ratings become meaningless?

"We know that when the rules change every year and there are exemptions on top of conditions on top of projections, that really begins to water down the meaning of any of these labels," said Daria Hall, director of K-12 policy for the Education Trust, a nonprofit group that advocates for poor and minority students. Hall served on a federal panel that reviewed Texas' new model.

Here's how the new projection measure works:

Say a seventh-grader failed the math TAKS. The Texas Education Agency developed a statistical formula that predicts whether that student will pass the math test in eighth grade. The formula considers the student's math and reading TAKS scores, plus the average math TAKS score at his school.

If the student is predicted to pass, the school gets to count him as actually passing – even though he really failed.

Huh? If the school predicts the student will pass, then even if he/she fails, they get to count them as passing? So, where is the incentive for schools to actually teach students? They get to count them as passing anyway, so who cares.

It actually get worse.

But Hall, speaking for Education Trust, said one problem with Texas' model is that it gives schools credit based on future performance and doesn't go back and compare that to actual performance.

Case in point: A sixth- or seventh-grader who fails the TAKS could be projected to pass in eighth grade. The school receives credit for that. But suppose the student reaches eighth grade and does not pass as predicted. The school is not penalized. Instead, the Texas model looks ahead again – this time, determining whether the eighth-grader will pass the 11th-grade TAKS.

"From a school perspective, a student never has to actually be proficient. It's always projected into future grades," she said.

Just like California, Texas is kicking the can down the road rather than actually holding schools accountable for student performance. This new model allows another excuse for Texas schools to ignore the very students that need their help the most, those who are testing below grade level. This is just another example of devising the accountability systems for the benefit of the adults rather than the students. Shame on you Texas!