The legal delay is over and the public is now learning how their school districts fared in 2023.
Most in North Texas dropped a single grade, from a B to C. Fort Worth and DeSoto plummeted two grades, from a B to a D.
Fort Worth ISD told the Fort Worth Report it did not believe it would face intervention from the state education agency, despite data showing a now-closed middle school met the threshold of failing five years in a row.
Here’s how other districts fared across North Texas
Several school districts saw no change, including Frisco, Carroll and Highland Park, which maintained A-ratings. McKinney and Keller maintained Bs in 2022 and 2023.
North Texas districts with grades dropping from a B to a C included Dallas, Irving, Grand Prairie, Mesquite and Duncanville.
Allen ISD, with a B in 2023 from an A in 2022, noted most of its schools scored A’s that year. But one campus fell below a 70, automatically capping the district to an 89, by TEA rules.
Arlington ISD offered this explanation for its grade of C in 2023 from a B in 2022.
Richardson ISD, which earned a C in 2023 from a B in 2022, released a statement, saying “the state changed both the accountability system and the STAAR test in the same year, without providing school districts with advance notice. This meant that the ratings released this week were based on college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) data of students who had already graduated from schools at the time the changes were made by the state – giving districts no opportunity to align instructional efforts with the factors upon which ratings were based.
The College Career indicator, which accounted for a significant portion of the rating in 2023, was 57% for RISD’s Class of 2022 when the standards were retroactively applied to arrive at 2023 ratings.
In contrast, the most recent CCMR indicator for RISD’s Class of 2024 was 94%.”
Denton ISD, with a C in 2023 and a B in 2022, was among the 120 districts that sued TEA in 2023 to prevent the ratings release because of what it called “abrupt changes to the state accountability system.” It concluded the changed rating system, ”is the equivalent of shifting goalposts in the middle of the game – or even after a game has been played. These mid-year changes have made it substantially more difficult for campuses to earn high marks.”
Whatever the evaluation system, Denton ISD said its priority remains to empower lifelong learners with a high-quality education ensuring they’re “life, college and/or career ready.”
Other districts drew similar conclusions.
