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Richardson ISD earned a C rating for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school year from the Texas Education Agency’s accountability report, according to the agency website.
The 2023-24 ratings were delayed because of a lawsuit filed by 33 districts, which argued the agency’s revamped guidelines did not follow state law.
In August 2024, a Travis County district court blocked the release of the ratings; however, the Texas Courts of Appeals ruled in July that the 2023-24 ratings can be released.
The details
The A-F system gives districts four grades: overall, student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps.
Overall, the district earned a 79, or C, rating for the 20254-25 school year. It earned a B in student achievement, which measures student performance across all grades and subjects. School progress, which measures the number of students who grew academically and the achievement of economically disadvantaged students, earned a B.
For closing the gaps, which uses data to find differentials between ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors, the district earned a C. In addition, campuses were also scored by the TEA. Individual campus ratings can be found online.
For the 2023-24 school year, the district earned a C in all categories.
Some context
At an Aug. 18 news conference, TEA Commissionisher Mike Morath said the A-F accountability system "fundamentally starts with a basic belief system in Texas that we think that all children can learn and achieve at high levels, ... as long as we, the adults, support them appropriately in our schools."
He said that according to the 2024 results, only 18% of districts would have received an A rating, while 23% did for the 2024-25 school year. Additionally, 31% of campuses across the state had an increase to their rating.
“We see that year over year, our schools have gotten better across the state for our kids,” Morath said.
What you need to know
Prior to the ratings release, district staff used data to project its rating and identify areas of improvement. The information was presented to the board of trustees during the Aug. 7 school board meeting.
According to the district’s website, areas identified for continued focus, including:
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. The district also earned a C for the 2022-23 school year.
“This accountability system has been studied, and because we publicly rate schools, our students do better academically,” Morath said.
