TEA releases ‘24-’25 school accountability ratings

Last Friday, the Texas Education Agency released school accountability ratings (on a grading scale of A through F) for the 2024-2025 school year. The ratings show how each school/district across the state performed in three areas (student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps for certain groups of students). This is determined by student performance on state standardized tests (like the STAAR).

In Whitesboro, the Primary, Intermediate and High Schools earned a C while the Middle School earned a B. The district earned a C overall (74 out of 100), a slight dip from their 77 out of 100 from the previous year.

In S&S, the Elementary School earned an A while the Middle School earned a B and the High School earned a C. This earned them an overall rating of C (78 out of 100), an increase from their 71 out of 100 from the previous year.

Collinsville ISD scored a B across all schools, resulting in an overall B rating (82 out of 100). This is a slight increase from their 81 out of 100 from the previous year.

These ratings were released just three months after the 2023-2024 school year results were published. In 2020 and 2021, ratings weren’t published due to COVID-19. In 2022, Texas lawmakers prevented TEA from releasing scores to give schools time to recover from the learning disruptions presented by the pandemic.

In that time, the TEA made changes to its accountability rating system, which included raising benchmarks to reach the highest ratings for districts. School districts filed a lawsuit against TEA, claiming the changes weren’t provided at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year as required by the state – therefore, districts weren’t given enough notice to change their approach for optimum results. 

A judge in Travis County sided with the school districts, then TEA appealed the decision and ultimately, the 15th Court of Appeals ruled the TEA commissioner didn’t overstep his authority by making those changes. This allowed the 2023 grades to be released to the public.

A similar lawsuit took place hindering the 2024-2025 results, but a ruling in July allowed TEA to move forward with the release of these most current ratings.

While some districts are pleased with their results (“We’re pretty proud of our improvements!” CISD Superintendent Matthew Davenport said) and some are disappointed with the results, not all superintendents feel the letter grade is an accurate representation of how students in their district are actually developing.

“The letter grades across the state drastically decreased, which was the intent of TEA and our elected officials to begin with,” Whitesboro ISD Superintendent Ryan Harper said. “Several schools have challenged the grading of their student’s exams and received anywhere from a 25%-50% increase in ‘passing’ scores. (Those schools are charged $50/exam to challenge a ‘score.’)

“Whitesboro ISD received a ‘C’ rating from a grading system that is designed to make as many school systems look as poorly as possible for the purpose of continuing the state’s pursuit of repurposing taxpayer dollars. At Whitesboro, we do not teach to the test. We teach for the betterment of the whole child…Regurgitation of memorized facts works for a computer, but we are first trying to produce thinkers and doers that will be strong, successful, contributing members of society.”

Despite his feelings about the rating system, Harper understands the academic success of students falls to the educators.

“It is still up to us to make sure our students are receiving the best education possible, and it is still up to us to make sure our students rise to whatever standard is placed upon them,” he said. 

To see a full list of the TEA accountability ratings, visit www.txschools.gov