Commit applauds Texas school leaders for prioritizing transparency

DALLAS, TX – The Commit Partnership applauds the Texas school districts that have voluntarily released their A-F accountability ratings to the public today. Their decision comes after a recent lawsuit halted the full release of scores across the state. In spite of this, school systems in Bexar County, Dallas County, El Paso County, and Harris County have chosen to provide their communities actionable, reliable information in the form of district and campus letter grades.

“We applaud these districts for their transparency in choosing to validate and publicly issue their scores”, said Miguel Solis, President of the Commit Partnership and former Dallas ISD board trustee. “Having a reliable picture of where resources are needed helps districts better serve their students as well as better advocate on their behalf as they seek increased and critical strategic funding during next year’s legislative session.”

What is A-F accountability?

Since 2018, TEA has calculated A-F grades for public school districts, charter networks and individual schools. These are based on multiple indicators, including graduation rates, performance on state standardized tests, and college, career, and military readiness outcomes. Institutions are graded not only on raw achievement but year-over-year progress, how they perform relative to similar schools, and their ability to close achievement gaps between student subgroups. The letter grades are meant to allow Texans the ability to compare school choices fairly and reliably.

Why haven’t we had A-F scores?

A-F accountability was first paused in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic halted administration of the state STAAR exam. Grades were not awarded for the 2021 school year, either, and in 2022, only A-C grades were given per state legislation. In 2023, the release of A-F scores was stopped by court injunction relating to a lawsuit filed by a group of Texas school districts over changes made to the grading system. In 2024, this happened again with a smaller group of plaintiffs.

What are the changes being made to the A-F system?

In 2022, TEA began a “refresh” of the state accountability system – a process required by the same law that created the system in 2017. Texas parents, educators, legislative staff, community advocates, and business leaders provided robust input, and an advisory group of impacted stakeholders was formed to oversee the process.

Ultimately, that process resulted in new baseline “cut scores” that measure how effectively districts are supporting students to meet grade-level academic benchmarks, new College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) indicators to align with industry-based certifications and more focused methodologies to measure how schools are closing gaps between different student groups, as well as additional data available to families and the public through txschools.gov.

Because these changes have been made, ratings received prior to 2023 will not be comparable to those just released, or any other 2024 ratings that may eventually be released.

What does this mean for students?

A-F letter grades allow Texas students, families, school leaders and policymakers with greater insight to make informed decisions. Students and families can better choose between different public schools on offer in their communities, while school boards and superintendents can direct greater resources to campuses that are struggling.

Now, after five years, too many Texans are still unable to access this crucial information. That’s why we’re thankful to the school leaders who have put their students first by prioritizing transparency and accountability.