On Friday morning, The Texas Education Agency released “mock ratings” for school districts and school campuses statewide based on Texas’ new accountability system.

Districts and campuses were scored with an A-F letter grade based on closing gaps in achievement between students of varying socio-economic and racial backgrounds as well as graduation rates, standardized test scores and other factors.

Domain I grades student achievement, Domain II addresses student progress and Domain III focuses on closing performance gaps while Domain VI covers postsecondary readiness.

Most Hays CISD campuses received scores of Cs and Ds. Superintendent Michael McKie sent a letter to parents yesterday calling the letter grades “disappointing.”

“We know there is always room for improvement in instruction, and we work tirelessly to do so each and every day in each and every classroom in our district,” McKie said in the letter. “There are also many reasons to be proud of Hays CISD schools.”

McKie said the new rating systems is deficient in representing positive aspects of classrooms.

“This new rating system is damaging because it creates a false impression about students, ignores the unique strengths of each school and unfairly reduces each student’s worth to the school’s assigned grade,” McKie said in the letter.

The method used to calculate the letter grades relies heavily on a state-administered test, he said.

“While districts and campuses should absolutely be held accountable for student performance and progress, the measures for such should be more than one set of standardized tests that comprise 55 percent or more of the overall letter grade for a campus or district,” McKie said. “Our local grading policies do not allow one test to be the majority of a grade; state policies should not either.”

Later this month, district staff will propose a resolution to the school board that would place Hays CISD on a list of districts calling for the repeal of the new rating system.

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