Students starting the new school year will soon begin receiving grades on their various assignments. At the same time, parents and other community members are able to see if their local schools and campuses are making the grade in a fresh update to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) rating system of all public school districts.

Alief ISD serves 41,715 students at 45 campuses. According to the ratings report, the school district received a B grade overall. Progress includes improvement in scores for 16 campuses. Smith Elementary, whose overall rating was F in 2019, scored B ratings in 2022. Cummings Elementary improved its D rating in 2019 to B.

Outgoing Alief Superintendent HD Chambers said he recognizes, appreciates, and celebrates the unparalleled efforts by Alief’s teachers, leaders, classroom support staff, students, and families in getting students back to classrooms after the pandemic.

Also, he emphasized that “the STAAR Accountability Ratings System measures a very narrow scope of what schools contribute to the success of Texas’ K-12 education system and has much room to improve.”

“After the struggles of the last couple of years, we are proud of the academic growth, however, it is important that we continue working towards a school rating system that measures more than a test score and can be understood by parents, students, tax payers, and lawmakers,” he added.

For now, the data showed gains in the College, Career and Military Readiness Criteria Details, where the district exceeded the state average in Earned Associate Degrees by students by a full percentage point. The district has a school of choice, Alief Early College High School, and the Alief Advanced Careers Center, which provide high school students with the opportunity to graduate with an associate degree and/or workforce certifications in various areas of study.

In the School Progress category, Alief ISD improved from a 79 score in 2019 to 87. School Progress shows how students perform over time and how the district’s performance compares to other districts with similar economically disadvantaged student populations.

To view the 2022 accountability ratings for districts and campuses, visit TXschools.gov.

The TEA’s  2022 A-F Accountability Ratings for schools and districts statewide are the first since 2019, when the agency paused reporting ratings due to the pandemic. In the meantime, all districts and schools received a label of Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster.

During the rating reporting hiatus, districts and campuses received report-only accountability results, student listings, and data tables. Scaled scores and letter grades were not published. But this year’s return to publishing of the ratings includes data for 1,195 districts and 8,451 campuses in Texas.

On the statewide level, the agency reports student academic growth with 25 percent of districts and 33 percent of campuses improving their letter grades from the 2019 report. Additionally, TEA data reveals that of the designated high-poverty Texas campuses, 18 percent rated at the highest level.

“These results show our state’s significant investment in the post-pandemic academic recovery of Texas public school students is bearing fruit,” said Texas Education Commissioner, Mike Morath. “I’m grateful for the driving force behind this year’s success: our teachers and local school leaders.”

The TEA ratings are based on three domains: Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps.

— by Jessika Leal