HISD ratings: Superintendent Millard House II weighs in on recently released TEA accountability scores

Texas Education Agency releases school district accountability ratings

HOUSTON – The Texas Education Agency has just released the newest accountability ratings, which show how schools performed academically across the state last year.

Schools and districts are graded on three criteria: student achievement, student progress and how well the school is closing its learning gaps.

Student achievement and progress weigh the most and STAAR results are how the agency measures progress. Students are tested on different subjects: reading, math, science and social students.

These are the top districts in our area by size and their overall accountability rating:

  • HISD – B
  • Cy-Fair ISD – A
  • Fort Bend ISD – B
  • Aldine ISD – C
  • Katy ISD – A
  • Conroe ISD – B
  • Pasadena ISD – B
  • Klein ISD – B
  • Alief ISD – B
  • Clear Creek ISD - B
  • Humble ISD -- B
  • Spring ISD – B

Check the TEA website to see how other school districts did.

WATCH: TEA commissioner delivers remarks after school district accountability ratings released

Here’s what the following districts are saying about their ratings:

Houston Independent School District

“The Houston Independent School District earned a B from the Texas Education Agency’s academic accountability ratings for the 2021-2022 school year. The ratings are based on performance on state standardized tests, graduation rates, college, career, and military readiness outcomes. HISD scored 88 and saw significant improvement at previously struggling campuses.

Ensuring great schools and programs in every community is one of six foundational commitments of HISD’s Five-Year Strategic Plan. The new scores from the TEA demonstrate that a successful transformation is underway.”

Superintendent Millard House II said he is extremely proud the district is moving in the right direction compared to 2019 ratings. He reported that HISD has earned an overall B+ rating, maintaining its score of 88 in the state. Additionally, 94% of its campus has earned an A, B, C rating, which is an 82% increase in comparison to 2019 ratings.

“That includes Wheatley High School, which I know there’s been a lot of attention about in the last several years,” Millard said. “After eight years of consistent low performance, Wheatley has earned a passing grade of C. This is not only huge, in terms of Wheatley in being a win, it’s huge for the Wheatley community.”

Millard highlighted the highest increase across the district came from Osborne Elementary School, which moved from a 59 “F” to a 96 “A” in 2022. He said 79 campuses increased their overall rating by 10 or more points.

“This remarkable improvement is thanks to the incredible focus that our educators have pushed forward and our administrators on campuses really working towards these strategic works and strategic plan that we have put out in front of them,” the superintendent said.

Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District

“CFISD earned an “A” rating—the largest school district to earn the designation—in the Texas Education Agency’s 2022 accountability rating system, released Aug. 15.

An “A” rating is the highest level of performance that may be earned by a district in the accountability system, which awards letter grades of A-C for districts scoring at least a 70 in the domains of Student Achievement, School Progress, Closing the Gaps and overall.

Districts are evaluated on a series of criteria including STAAR scores; college, career and military readiness; state graduation rate; academic growth; relative performance; English language proficiency; and federal graduation rate.

“This A rating is an incredible achievement coming off some of the most challenging years that schools have ever faced,” said Dr. Mark Henry, CFISD superintendent of schools. “The designation is evidence of the hard work and dedication shown by our teachers, district and campus leadership and support staff, and of course, our students. CFISD is Opportunity for All—with a capital A!”

Learn more about the accountability system on the TEA website.”

Fort Bend Independent School District

Fort Bend ISD received a B rating, an 89, in the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) district ratings for the 2021-22 school year despite the learning loss experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The District earned the same score as it did in the last set of TEA ratings from the 2018-19 school year. As a result of the pandemic, for the 2019-20 and the 2020-21 school years, all districts and campuses received a label of “Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster.”

In the 2021-22 ratings, FBISD received high marks for its graduation rate (90); academic growth (90); relative performance regarding the percentage of students considered economically disadvantaged (89); and closing achievement gaps (88).

Fort Bend ISD’s schools also made improvements, with 22 schools improving at least one letter grade or more, compared to the 2018-19 scores. The 2021-22 individual school ratings are:

  • 26 schools received an A
  • 39 schools received a B
  • 9 schools received a C

The district’s specialty campuses are not included in yearly academic ratings.

Three FBISD schools – McAuliffe Middle School, and Marshall and Willowridge high schools – did not receive ratings for the 2021-22 school year due to scores less than 70. Per Senate Bill 1365, passed during the 87th legislative session in 2021, low-performing campuses are allowed to remain unrated to provide more recovery time due to the pandemic.

“While these ratings do not capture all the improvements our students have made since the start of the pandemic, they do show that significant growth has taken place,” FBISD Superintendent Dr. Christie Whitbeck said. “In this school year and beyond, we will continue our work to close the gaps in learning and support all our students. I commend those campuses that increased their performance by an entire letter grade or more.”

Several campuses moved up a grade higher compared to the last set of available scores. Of note, Hunters Glen Elementary earned an A rating after receiving a C in the 2018-19 report, and Ridgemont Elementary earned a B compared to a D in the previous report. Other schools that improved compared to the 2018-19 ratings include:

Moved from B to A

  • Bowie Middle School
  • First Colony Middle School
  • Jan Schiff Elementary
  • Jordan Elementary
  • Lakeview Elementary
  • Oyster Creek Elementary

Moved from C to B

  • Blue Ridge Elementary
  • Burton Elementary
  • Dulles Elementary
  • Fleming Elementary
  • Glover Elementary
  • Holley Elementary
  • Jones Elementary
  • Mission Glen Elementary
  • Mission West Elementary
  • Patterson Elementary
  • Quail Valley Elementary
  • Seguin Elementary
  • Townewest Elementary

Moved from D to C

  • Goodman Elementary

Also of note, campuses received a total of 124 individual distinctions, with 57% of campuses earning at least one distinction. Three campuses – Commonwealth and Walker Station elementary schools, and Fort Settlement Middle School – earned distinctions in all possible areas. Schools may receive a distinction, or commendation for achievement, in the following areas:

  • English Language Arts/Reading
  • Math
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Academic Growth
  • Closing Performance Gaps
  • Post-Secondary Readiness

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