Jarrad Toussant, Senior Vice President, Education & Workforce
Legal battles continue to disrupt the administration of Texas’ A-F Accountability Ratings, the statewide evaluation system for PK-12 schools. The complete ratings were last released in 2019, meaning parents and companies alike have not had a comprehensive look at school and district performance in five years.
The Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) is advocating for a swift resolution to this latest legal challenge to restore this critical component of Texas’ public education system and transparency for stakeholders. The DRC applauds school districts, including Dallas ISD, Garland ISD, and Irving ISD in the Dallas Region that have demonstrated their commitment to transparency and accountability by proactively releasing their A-F ratings despite the pending legal challenge.
Here is what the business community needs to know about this developing situation—and indicators of school performance you can look to in the absence of A-F ratings.
What’s happening?
On Monday, Aug. 12, a Travis County District Judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Texas Education Agency (TEA), preventing the planned Thursday, Aug. 15 release of A-F ratings for campuses and districts from the 2023-24 school year. This lawsuit is the latest development in a legal dispute that began in October 2023, when a coalition of more than 100 school districts sued the TEA over changes to the accountability system’s structure. The latest lawsuit, filed by five school districts, alleges that assessment results – which inform A-F ratings – are flawed due to the use of an automated scoring system for students’ written responses.
Several school districts, including Dallas ISD, Garland ISD, and Irving ISD in the Dallas Region, have released their own campus and district A-F ratings while legal proceedings unfold.
The state’s A-F Accountability System provides a tool to interpret school performance, synthesizing student outcome data into letter-grade ratings at both the campus and district level.
Yet, because of disruptions from the pandemic and the 2023 lawsuit, the last full release of A-F ratings was in 2019. The TEA released partial A-F results in 2022, but COVID-19 heavily skewed the ratings.
How are our schools performing?
Dallas ISD, according to internal projections, is expected to receive a “C” rating – a 79 compared to a projected 76 from last school year. Notably, Dallas ISD reports that the number of high schools earning an “A” or “B” rating has almost doubled year-over-year, and that no Dallas ISD high school is expected to receive a failing grade. Garland ISD expects to receive a “B” rating, on par with its projected results from 2022-23. Irving ISD estimates a “C” overall rating this year, unchanged from its projected 2022-23 grade.
While proactive transparency and accountability from school districts is a good thing, statewide transparency will provide the best picture of how our Dallas Region schools are performing.
In the absence of statewide A-F ratings, results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness – or STAAR – provide some insights into student achievement trends.
Data from the 2023-24 STAAR administration shows students in the Dallas Region holding steady in reading proficiency and declining slightly in math, while running ahead of state averages across grades 3 through 12 in both subjects. In reading, Dallas Region students have fully recovered from the precipitous declines following the COVID-19 pandemic and now exceed pre-pandemic achievement. Conversely, math outcomes still lag pre-pandemic results but have rebounded significantly from post-pandemic lows.
Despite improvements, absolute student achievement is still insufficient to meet the Dallas Region’s long-term workforce needs. In the 2023-24 school year, less than half of Dallas Region third through eighth graders met state standards in math.
The DRC recognizes that the economic success of the Dallas Region is reliant on a robust talent pipeline, which requires a strong public school system. Looking ahead to the 89th Texas Legislative Session, the DRC will continue to advocate for strategic, evidence-based investments in public education. A robust and reliable accountability system is crucial to evaluating this investment and guiding future efforts to improve outcomes for all Dallas Region students.