Austin ISD responds to TEA's school ratings

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Education Agency has released its ratings for school districts across the state.

Districts like Austin ISD say the ratings don't accurately reflect student success due to a shift in standards.

Big picture view:

Across the state, F-rated schools increased by 233 percent. 

The ratings were released after two years of legal battles. The ratings are public for the first time since 2019.

RELATED: Texas releases ratings for schools, districts. See how your district scored

One-hundred-and-twenty school districts had raised concerns in a lawsuit over the standards for ratings.

The 2024 ratings have not yet been released by the courts.

For a breakdown of ratings, click here.

Austin ISD responds to school ratings

What we know:

AISD's rating dropped from a B in 2019 to a C for 2023.

Thirty AISD schools were identified as failing, 16 of which dropped from a B to an F. 

The district says changes to the STAAR test make it harder to get an A and easier to get an F. 

AISD says since 2023, they've:

• Implemented historic raises for educators
• Reinforced multi-tiered systems of support, helping ensure every student receives high-quality instruction and targeted, timely interventions when needed.
• Invested in instructional coaches to build capacity with our newest educators and content interventionists to bolster student learning.

What they're saying:

"This is a systemic reshaping of the yardstick that's used to measure our state's public schools," Lynn Boswell, president of the AISD Board of Trustees said. 

"These are the same students and the same teachers from one year to the next," superintendent Matias Segura said. "We know we have to do better and we know we need to step up to meet the increasing demands, even in an imperfect system that will not capture the brilliance of all children as they go through their educational journey."

"When I look at the most recent test results, I feel alarmed and disheartened. I'm not surprised students struggled with a brand-new online test with completely new standards," Laurie Solis, president of the Austin Council of PTAs said.

Rodriguez Elementary School went from a B to an F. 

"The test changed. The questions changed. It went from paper to all online. It went for multiple choice to multiple ways to ask questions," principal Monica Mills said. "The entire STAAR test was on the computer, and the results were graded with AI."

Another consideration is that the Spanish version STAAR test is only offered in grades 3-5 for dual language learners.

"Between 5th and 6th, we do see a significant kind of impact to the way the STAAR ratings are calculated," Segura said.

Dobie Middle School, which the district is considering closing, has an F rating. AISD has until June 30 to decide its fate. 

TEA responds to AISD

What they're saying:

The TEA says their system refresh provides an "applies-to-apples" comparison between 2022 and 2023 ratings. State law did not allow D and F ratings in 2022 due to pandemic effects. The two years before that, there were no ratings due to the pandemic.

The agency says families have been "denied access to information" for too long thanks to "frivolous lawsuits." 

In response to Austin ISD, TEA says: 

"TEA is disappointed to see that a few school system leaders have continued to perpetuate fundamentally misleading information, as these statements do a grave disservice to children and parents. When school board members, and their paid administrators, sow doubt on an independent appraisal of their school performance and instead promote a message that schools with significant academic weakness are performing just fine, students suffer."

AustinEducation