The overview
The ratings were released April 24 after a two-year delay. TEA could not release the ratings sooner due to a lawsuit involving more than 50 districts, including North East ISD, Northside ISD and San Antonio ISD. The lawsuit argues that the TEA changes to the rating system would unfairly lower the district’s ratings despite potential improvements in student performance.
Additionally, TEA is barred from sharing more recent school ratings from the 2023-24 school year due to another ongoing lawsuit. School performance ratings from the 2024-25 school year are scheduled to be released in August.
In a news release, NEISD Superintendent Sean Maika listed several achievements and growth across NEISD campuses, such as meeting grade level requirements at a higher level than the state averages from 2021 to spring 2024 and students outperforming the state averages in every subject. He also noted that the scores, which are largely based on State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness results, reduce the complexity of student growth and school achievement.
“When this year’s ratings are released, we will review them carefully and use any insights they offer to further support student learning,” Maika said. “But we also recognize that these results may only provide a narrow snapshot of the work being done in our schools. I have said before, I believe in assessing our students. It’s how we help students grow and meet new academic goals. But accountability should be fair, transparent and truly reflective of student achievement.”
Sorting out the details
In NEISD, 19 of the 75 schools received an A, 14 received a B, 21 received a C, 12 received a D and four received an F. Five schools were unrated. For academic growth, the district scored 71 out of 100 and for relative performance 78 out of 100.
How we got here
The A-F accountability system was established in 2017 by the 85th Texas Legislature through House Bill 22. A-F ratings were first issued to Texas public school systems in 2018. The school ratings were paused during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to an April 24 TEA news release, the methods of calculating A-F scores were updated for the 2022-23 set of ratings to more accurately reflect performance. These updated methods were part of a previously communicated system refresh.
NEISD joined the lawsuit against TEA over the new ratings system in October 2023.
The initial lawsuit was seeking one of two options for the accountability scores:
- For TEA Commissioner Mike Morath to issue ratings for the 2022-23 school year and the 2023-24 school year using the existing system
- For TEA Commissioner Mike Morath to issue no ratings for the two school years
What TEA is saying
“For far too long, families, educators and communities have been denied access to information about the performance of their schools, thanks to frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax dollars filed by those who disagreed with the statutory goal of raising career readiness expectations to help students,” Morath said in an April 24 news release. “Every Texas family deserves a clear view of school performance, and now those families finally have access to data they should have received two years ago. Transparency drives progress, and when that transparency is blocked, students pay the price.”
