The ratings were delayed because of a lawsuit filed by more than 120 districts, including RISD. The districts argued the agency’s revamped guidelines did not follow state law. In September 2023, a Travis County district court blocked the release of the ratings; however, the Texas Courts of Appeals ruled in April that the 2022-23 ratings can be released.
In a nutshell
RISD scored a 75, or a C, overall. The rating system measures how much students are learning in each grade and whether they are ready to move on to the next grade. It also helps to determine whether districts prepare students for success after high school in college, the workforce or the military.
The score is calculated based on performance in three key areas, or domains—student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps.
What-if ratings, meaning what the district would have scored if the agency had not revamped rating guidelines, were also released and RISD also received a C rating.
Across the state, almost 11% of school districts received an A, while 40% received a B, about 32% received a C, 14% received a D and about 3% received an F, according to the TEA.
Quote of note
“As we work to finish strong in the final weeks of the 2024-25 school year, we are in a much different environment than we were in 2023,” Superintendent Tabitha Branum said in a news release. “We’re now in year three of our RISD Learner Framework, guided by our North Star goal of student academic growth.”
Branum said data collected at the district level shows academic growth in RISD students and that they are on track to meet their goals.
“I’m very proud of, and encouraged by, our progress over the last two years,” Branum said. “While 2022-23 ratings may be useful for archival purposes, we are looking forward to how our campuses perform when 2025 ratings are released this fall.”
The district implemented a strategic plan starting in the 2023-24 school year focused on student and teacher growth, which includes programs to help students learn emotional intelligence, financial literacy, effective communication and critical thinking skills.
Zooming in
The district scored a 75 out of 100 in the student achievement domain, which measures whether students met expectations on the STAAR test. It scored a 76 out of 100 in the school progress domain, which measures how students perform over time and how the district compares to other similar school districts. Lastly, RISD scored a 71 out of 100 in the closing the gap domain, which measures how well a district ensures all student groups are successful.
In school finance, the district received an A, scoring 98 out of 100. In addition, campuses were also scored by the TEA. Individual school ratings can be found online.
Taking a step back
The district received a B rating in the 2021-22 and 2018-19 school years. Districts were not rated in 2019-20 and 2020-2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At its core, existence of the A through F system in the State of Texas...is a moral belief that all children can, in fact, learn and achieve at high levels,” TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said at an April 22 news conference. “This is a goal setting process that we go through to help answer for ourselves...how well are we meeting that mission for our children?”
The TEA remains blocked from issuing ratings for the 2023-24 school year because of a separate lawsuit. Morath also said the agency intends to release ratings for the 2024-25 school year Aug. 15, as required by state law.
Hannah Norton contributed to this report.
