Richardson ISD received a B accountability rating for the 2025-26 school year from the Texas Education Agency after three years of C ratings from the agency.
District officials said the score advancement was driven in part by growth in State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness results and an increased College, Career, and Military Readiness rate at an Aug. 6 school board meeting.
“The progress reflected in this year’s results is a reflection of the collective commitment of our teachers, leaders, staff, students and families to keeping student growth at the center of everything we do,” Superintendent Tabitha Branum said in a news release from the district. “Together, we are making meaningful progress and ensuring more students have the opportunity to reach their full potential.”
The overview
TEA releases annual A-F scores for campuses and districts across the state. The district-wide rating measures “what students are learning in each grade and whether or not they are ready for the next grade. It also shows how well a school prepares their students for success after high school in college, the workforce or the military,” per the TEA website.
The rating takes into account STAAR results, College, Career, and Military Readiness rates and graduation rates, said Gina Ortiz, senior executive director of accountability and continuous improvement.
“We are not where we need to be in every single classroom and every single grade level and every single campus,” Branum said at the school board meeting. “But the trajectory [and] the momentum for growth and the outcomes that we know our kids deserve—we are seeing evidence of that.”
RISD received an overall score of 83 from TEA. 31 of 49 rated RISD campuses received an A or B rating, including all four high schools.
The details
RISD saw growth in STAAR scores in most areas across the board in spring 2026, Ortiz said, including in math at all grade levels.
Ortiz said RISD students performed at or higher than the state at the “meets grade level” standard in 14 of 20 tests and exceeded the state in the “masters grade level” standard in 18 of 20 exams.
Areas for growth include improving performance on extended constructed-response questions in reading language arts assessments, closing achievement gaps for economically disadvantaged students and improving special education performance, Ortiz said.
A closer look
Luke Hurst, executive director of advanced learning services, said the district has seen enrollment growth in every CCMR pathway, including Advanced Placement, dual credit, OnRamps and industry-based certification enrollment, even as district-wide enrollment declines.
Graduating seniors who met the requirements for College, Career, and Military Readiness increased from 95% to 97% in the class of 2025.
AP enrollment has grown year-over-year for the last five years, Hurst said, and the district has also seen a significant jump in passing rates in both 2025 and 2026.
“Done one year, it’s an anomaly. Done two years, it’s the beginning of a tradition,” Hurst said.
RISD’s OnRamps program, a partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, also saw growth in enrollment and passing rates year-over-year, Hurst said, as did dual credit courses.
In total, RISD students earned over 11,000 college credits in the 2025-26 school year, Hurst said, which amounts to over $11 million in savings for district families.
Hurst projected that 99% of the class of 2026 will meet CCMR requirements.
Looking ahead
District officials said RISD aims to focus on performance management in the 2026-27 school year to work toward a standard of performance at every RISD school.
“We want you to have an assurance that you’re going to walk into school and have that same experience everywhere you go,” Branum said.
Priorities include strengthening classroom instruction, improving campus climate and culture and developing targeted intervention and enrichment plans for students.
School board President Chris Poteet said RISD is starting to see outcomes from strategic plans that the district has been working to implement over the past several years.
“You start seeing trends, then you start telling the story,” Poteet said. “A lot of the work that’s been done for five years and longer in different parts of the district—this is starting to show, I believe, a good story.”
