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TEA releases school district accountability ratings, but be careful comparing grades

The Texas Education Agency has released the 2021-2022 Accountability Ratings for Texas schools, but one score doesn't tell the whole story.

TEMPLE, Texas — The Texas Education Agency released statewide 2021-2022 school accountability ratings Monday.

Parents and teachers can look up individual school rates here on the TEA website. There is also a spreadsheet option available if the previous link is too slow.

The scores can give you a general idea of how school districts are doing, but comparing just one score is not advised because districts can score well in a variety of ways.

In fact, the majority of a school districts grade is determined by their single highest score between the "Student Achievement Score," which is based on test scores, the "Academic Growth Score" based on student improvement, and the "Relative Performance Score," which is based on the performance of economically disadvantaged students versus the average performance in the state. 

The single highest score between those three factors is weighed at 70 percent and the remaining 30 percent is dependent on the "Closing the Gaps" score, which measures how well a school or district is ensuring that all student groups are successful.

Belton ISD, received a final grade of 87 and a B rating. Their Student Achievement Score was 89 and their closing the gap score was 81.

According to the TEA, "Student Achievement measures whether students met expectations on the STAAR test. It also measures graduation rates and how prepared students are for success after high school."

At the same time, Marlin ISD received a final grade of 86 and a B rating. Their Student Achievement School was 80, but their Relative Performance Score was 92 and their gap score was 73, which came out to an 86 in the end. 

The Relative Performance Score measures "how a school's performance compares to other schools with similar economically disadvantaged populations" according to the TEA. More information can be found here. 

Temple ISD received a final grade of 77 and a C rating. Their Academic Growth Score was 80 and the closing the gap score was 70. While Temple ISD had a lower final score than the previous two schools, their Academic Growth score was actually higher than Belton ISD and Marlin ISD. 

In order to score high for academic growth, students must maintain proficiency or increase proficiency on STAAR Progress Measures according to the TEA. 

Find specific campus by accessing the spreadsheet option on the TEA website and searching the document by using ctrl + F on your keyboard. 

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