Public schools across the state were rated based on a variety of factors, including academic performance and how prepared students are for college and careers after high school.
Why now?
Ratings for the 2022-23 school year were delayed by lawsuits, and released April 24 following an April 3 ruling in which the Texas 15th Court of Appeals overturned a 2023 injunction that prevented the accountability ratings' release for more than a year.
In September 2023, more than 100 Texas school districts joined in a lawsuit aimed at preventing the release of these ratings, as changes in the methodology for how letter grades were calculated were made mid-school year.
Because the ratings released April 24 are two years old, BISD Superintendent Barry Edwards says they are not a good representation of the district’s current performance, and the work done to improve performance by students and staff.
“They don’t reflect the growth and resilience we’ve seen in our students the last two years, nor do they reflect the dedication of our teachers and staff and the blood, sweat and tears they’ve poured into improvement,” Edwards told community members in an April 24 email.
In a nutshell
The A-F rating system was created by the 85th Legislature to provide clear and consistent performance tracking data for public schools and ensure students are prepared for the next grade level. Per the TEA, the focus areas of student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps were intended to drive continuous improvement in public schools.
According to an April 24 release from the TEA, various factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and lawsuits, have left an incomplete set of ratings for families to understand how their public schools are serving students.
“For far too long, families, educators and communities have been denied access to information about the performance of their schools, thanks to frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax dollars filed by those who disagreed with the statutory goal of raising career readiness expectations to help students,” Morath said in the news release.
The 2022-23 updates to methodology were made to "more accurately reflect performance," according to the TEA.
In his email to the community, Edwards addressed changes to the accountability ratings for 2022-23, including the redesigned State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness and an adjustment to one indicator related to College, Career and Military Readiness. For the latter, the CCMR threshold for a district to receive an A overall was shifted from 60% to 88%, applied retroactively to the class of 2023 after they already graduated, Edwards said.
The district has since implemented multiple strategies to improve student performance and achievement, he said.
“This work isn’t easy, and it certainly doesn’t always show up in a single letter or rating,” Edwards said. “But we see what’s happening in our classrooms. We see the growth. We see the passion of our teachers. And we see the impact that parent involvement has made.”
The breakdown
Statewide, about 11% of school districts received an A rating for the 2022-23 school year, 40% of districts earned a B, about 32% scored a C, 14% received a D, and about 3% received an F, according to the TEA.
At the campus level, in 2023, 1,646 campuses earned an A, 2,873 campuses scored a B, 2,107 campuses received a C, 1,264 campuses received a D, and 649 campuses scored an F, according to the TEA’s statewide summary report.
Out of the BISD campuses that received ratings:
- Six earned a C
- Four earned a D
- Three earned an F
- One earned an A
Texas school districts like BISD last received ratings through the A-F system in the 2021-22 school year. At that time, about one-third of districts earned an A rating for 2021-22, and just over half earned a B, according to prior reporting.
BISD did not receive a rating in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years due to state of disaster declarations stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the adjusted methodology, the district had earned an F in the 2018-19 school year and a B 2021-22 school years.
- 2018-19: F
- 2019-20: not rated due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2020-21: not rated due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021-22: B
- 2022-23: D
The TEA remains blocked from releasing accountability ratings for the 2023-24 school year, pending another lawsuit from school districts across the state. The second lawsuit is pending a decision from a state appeals court, as reported by Community Impact.
Edwards told community members he was confident that performance on the 2025 STAAR exam would demonstrate a level of improvement the district has been working toward since receiving 2022-23 performance data.
“We’ve witnessed our kids using their instructional strategies and giving us their best as they’ve been testing,” Edwards wrote. “We are proud of their effort and their heart!”
