San Marcos CISD receives 36 TEA distinctions for academic performance gains

Almost all San Marcos CISD campuses earned special performance awards from the Texas Education Agency along with their accountability ratings, released in August.

Eight out of 10 SMCISD campuses eligible for ratings received various academic performance awards, called distinctions, totaling 36 awards across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

How it works

Schools can receive TEA distinctions if the campus demonstrates “exceptional achievement” in specific academic areas compared to 40 other schools of the same school type, with similar size, grade span and student demographics according to the TEA’s 2025 rating manual.

A school must be in the top 25% of its comparison group to earn a distinction award.

Although SMCISD campuses reside under the same district, none of the individual campuses are comparable to each other due to varying characteristics, such as the population of English-language learners.

Campuses can earn distinctions for categories in school subjects such as math and science, and comparative academic growth. Elementary schools can receive six total distinctions, while middle and high schools can receive seven distinctions, which includes an award for social studies performance. Distinction designations include:

• Academic achievement in Reading/Language Arts
• Academic achievement in mathematics
• Academic achievement in science
• Academic achievement in social studies (middle and high school campuses only)
• Top 25%: comparative academic growth
• Top 25%: comparative closing the gaps
• Postsecondary readiness

The breakdown

SMCISD campuses earned 12 distinctions in the 2023-24 school year and doubled that amount to earn 24 distinctions in the 2024-25 school year.

That’s an increase from 11 distinctions earned in the 2022-23 school year.

Some campuses, including Travis Elementary and San Marcos High School bumped to two distinctions each in 2024-25, after not receiving distinctions the previous two years. Both schools also improved their accountability ratings, going from an 2022-23 F score to a 2024-25 C score.

Other schools, such as Mendez and Hernandez Elementaries increased their total distinctions from the 2022-23 school year to 2024-25.

Crockett Elementary received all possible distinctions for the 2024-25 school year, following a brief dip in its 2023-24 distinction earnings.

Some SMCISD campuses saw drops in distinction awards, such as Rodriguez Elementary and Goodnight Middle School across the 2023-24 to 2024-25 school years, though still received awards.

Bowie and DeZavala Elementaries did not receive any distinctions for the 2022-23, 2023-24 or 2024-25 school years. However, both schools have shown gains in accountability ratings, going from F scores in the 2022-23 school year to receiving D and C scores for 2024-25, respectively.

The bigger picture

SMCISD officials said the distinctions are significant because of their specific campus demographics. For example, distinctions at campuses with high numbers of English-language learners, such as DeZavala, can show improvements in academic performance even if the A-F accountability rating may be lower, Nash said.

“They’ve made great gains from that 2023 score jumping up in that one year—that is huge to make with our student population there,” she said. “Making sure our students have the support and our teachers have the support is going to be a game changer for this year.”

The district is working towards continuing academic performance improvements for Bowie and Dezavala, said Data and Accountability Director Elizabeth Nash.

“We know there is work to be done...but we can see improvement is happening,” Nash said of Bowie at an Aug. 18 board meeting presentation. “It is slow, but it is fair and it's moving in the right direction. Moving up a letter grade, getting out of that F range is some relief and it's one of those things that we know what needs to happen.”

Trustee Miguel Arredondo said the TEA scores and distinctions show positive growth in academic performance in the district overall.

“I think they’re indicative of the investment and hard work that our staff have been doing for years,” he said during the Aug. 18 board meeting. “I agree with [Superintendent Michael] Cardona that we’re not where we want to be, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction and we’re staying competitive.”

Learn more

Read more on SMCISD’s accountability ratings here.

Learn about the state’s accountability ratings, and a recent lawsuit delaying the scores here.