The Texas Education Agency cannot publish school grades, but districts can – and some do

A lawsuit filed earlier this week stopped the Texas Education Agency from releasing A-F school grades, which were supposed to be released Thursday. But districts already have the STAAR test data on which those grades are largely based, and some are releasing the numbers themselves.

Dallas ISD announced Thursday that its preliminary results show the number of high schools in the district “with grades of A and B has nearly doubled compared to internal calculations for the 2023 assessments.”

Dallas ISD also said it expects no more failing high schools and the highest number in the AC area since 2022.

“Our Board of Trustees values ​​transparency and accountability regarding the district's performance, which is why we are publishing these internal calculations,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said in a press release on the district's website.

Miguel Solis, president of the Commit Partnership, a Dallas-based nonprofit education organization, urged districts this week to release AF data despite the lawsuit. But, he warned, Comparisons with previous grades must be fair.

“The results released this year cannot be compared to previous results because it is not a direct comparison,” he told reporters during a webinar on Wednesday. “This is really a fresh start that they can build a foundation on.”

Solis said new criteria were set for this year's grades after last year's AF results were also postponed following a separate lawsuit.

The TEA's latest STAAR test is considered more demanding and has new values ​​for determining AF ratings.

Dallas ISD is projecting a C grade this year with 79 points, compared to 76 points last year. The last grade was a B.

The district is also aware that the schools will receive grades of D and F.

“Nobody is burying their head in the sand,” said school board chairman Joe Carreon. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but I want to applaud everyone who is doing this work.”

Dallas, the state's second-largest school district, followed the lead of Houston ISD, the state's largest school district, in announcing its A-F grades last week.

In North Texas, Dallas joined Garland ISD, which also released its projections on Thursday following TEA approval.

Overall, the district expects a B grade and boasted that three of its seven high schools now have an overall A grade. In the last evaluation, only one school achieved that grade.

The district also reported an academic gain in Algebra 1 of 22 points, compared to a statewide gain of four points.

But some schools have problems, and Garland ISD mentioned a “targeted support plan implemented to support these campuses.”

“I am incredibly proud of our district and our teachers,” said School Board Chairman Robert Selders Jr., “but we know there is still a lot of work ahead of us.”

Other districts, meanwhile, are refusing to release their calculations, at least for now. Fort Worth ISD told KERA it would not release its results because of the lawsuit, but a spokesperson said the district “successfully moved more campuses into A, B and C ratings while reducing the number of D and F schools.”

Richardson ISD said it will not release results until the TEA can announce statewide results.

Bill Zeeble is KERA's education reporter. Have a tip? Email Bill at [email protected]. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.

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