Across Texas, the breakdown in grades, according to the TEA, was as follows:
- 11% of school districts received an A rating
- 40% of districts earned a B
- 32% scored a C
- 14% received a D
- 3% received an F
The big picture
The state’s A-F accountability system was designed to measure whether students are ready for the next grade level and how well each district prepares them for success after high school, Community Impact previously reported.
The announcement of the release follows an April 3 ruling by Texas’ 15th Court of Appeals, which overturned a lower court's injunction that had blocked the 2023 ratings for over a year.
In August 2023, over 100 Texas school districts sued TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, arguing the agency’s revamped accountability system was “unlawful” and would unfairly harm school districts.
“We do feel the A-F system oversimplifies the complexities of school performance and fails to account for varying student demographics and challenges faced by public school districts, as well as the danger of presenting narrow focus on test scores alone rather than a holistic approach to education,” FISD’s Deputy Superintendent Lauren Ambeau said in an email Aug. 16.
TEA officials said the methods of calculating 2022-23 ratings were “updated to more accurately reflect performance.”
Alvin ISD
AISD earned a grade of 82 with 29,100 students enrolled in 2022-23, TEA data shows.
Nearly 54% of those students were economically disadvantaged, over 13% were in special education programs and nearly 18% were emergent bilingual students, TEA data shows.
The average attendance rate in 2022-23 was just over 94%, with nearly 18% of AISD students considered “chronically absent,” meaning they missed 10% or more of the 2022-23 school year.
Out of the AISD campuses that received ratings:
- Eight earned an A
- 18 earned a B
- Five earned a C
- One earned a D, which was Bill Hasse Elementary
“Our teachers, campus administrators and district administrators thoroughly disaggregated the 2023 STAAR data after it was released two years ago,” she said in an email April 24. “We had the student data even though the ratings were not released. Our practice is to use student data to help individual students improve their learning as well as to help the district make curriculum adjustments where they are needed.”
Friendswood ISD
In the 2022-23 school year, FISD earned a 91 with nearly 6,200 students enrolled, TEA data shows.
Nearly 12% of those students were economically disadvantaged, over 14% were in special education programs and 3% were emergent bilingual students, TEA data shows.
The average attendance rate in 2022-23 was just over 94%, with over 13% of FISD students considered “chronically absent.”
Out of the FISD campuses that received ratings, no campus earned a rating under a "B," with three receiving an "A" and three receiving a "B," TEA data shows.
PISD earned an 89 on its accountability score with over 21,000 students enrolled for the 2022-23 school year, TEA data shows.
Over 37% of those students were economically disadvantaged, over 11% were in special education programs and nearly 13% were emergent bilingual students, TEA data shows.
The average attendance rate in 2022-23 was nearly 95%, with over 14% of PISD students classified as “chronically absent.”
Out of the PISD campuses that received ratings, no campus earned a rating under a "C":
- 14 earned an A
- Eight earned a B
- One earned a C, which was H.C. Carleston Elementary
The TEA remains blocked from issuing ratings for the 2023-24 school year due to a separate lawsuit, which is pending in the state appeals court. Morath also said the TEA intends to release ratings for 2024-25 on Aug. 15, per state law.
“A-F ratings are very public, and so that is a leadership challenge that our leaders bear, but this is the cross that we bear for being publicly funded and having the public’s children in our schools. It’s up to us to operate with the highest degree of transparency to deliver the best outcomes that we can for our kids,” Morath said April 22.
Hannah Norton, Ryan Reynolds and Danica Lloyd contributed to this report.
