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Arlington ISD Superintendent Matt Smith speaks at a school board meeting on Aug. 1, 2024, in the Arlington ISD Administration Building. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)
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As school districts prepare to receive accountability ratings from the state later this month, Arlington ISD officials aren’t optimistic.

The Texas Education Agency grades school performance on an A-F scale, measuring data like graduation rates and standardized test scores. In 2023, TEA shifted how it calculates the grades — changes expected to be fully implemented this year. 

Arlington ISD received a B in 2022, the most recent available score. Scores were not released in 2023 after several school districts, including Arlington ISD, were sued over the accountability changes.

TEA previously said the lawsuit would prevent school systems from improving and stunt academic growth of Texas students.

When Arlington ISD officials applied TEA’s new grading standards to the district’s 2022 data, its B score dropped 7 points to a C.

What does a district’s accountability rating measure?

Student Achievement: Evaluates student performance on assessments; College, Career and Military Readiness indicators; and graduation rates.

Academic Growth: Measures STAAR test performance and improvement.

Relative Performance: Measures achievement of students relative to campuses with similar economically disadvantaged percentages.

Closing the Gaps: Looks at the progress of districts’ interim and long-term goals among demographic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors.

This suggests districts are being graded on harsher metrics than before, said Natalie Lopez, assistant superintendent of research and accountability, during an Aug. 1 meeting.

Arlington ISD trustees have lamented TEA’s new accountability metrics as unfair and unrealistic. At a meeting Aug. 1, several board members accused the state of raising its grading standards to intentionally erode voters’ faith in public schools. 

“What does this data tell us about our district and what district are we?” said board President Justin Chapa. 

When TEA introduced A-F ratings in 2018, Arlington ISD received a C. It received a B in 2019. Chapa said the new standards will hurt the district’s upward momentum and make recent progress seem like it’s a decline.

“I’m all for accountability, but this is a flawed system,” said trustee David Wilbanks.

A district’s performance is divided into four major categories. Each area is individually scored, then they’re combined into TEA’s final grade. The amount of points required to receive an A in each domain increased by 28 to 32 percentage points.

Previously, to receive an A in the domain measuring how many students graduate “College, Career and Military Ready,” 60% of students would need to obtain the distinction. TEA raised the standard to 88%.

Districts will also no longer be given positive points for certain industry-based certifications, which recognize students proficient in skills ranging from Adobe product savviness to plant science and car repair.

These changes will likely compound with multiple years of grim standardized test scores across the state. Schools have struggled to reverse lingering pandemic-induced learning loss, while adjusting to major changes in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test.

In 2023, the STAAR test went from being administered mostly on paper, to fully online, awarding partial credit to students. The exam introduced a new emphasis on short-form essay responses, replacing the previous multiple-choice question format.STAAR essays were previously fully graded by humans, but they’re now graded mostly by automated computers, which Lopez said tend to give students lower scores than humans. 

Districts statewide, Arlington ISD included, saw a dip in student performance following the test changes. The number of students who met grade level expectations — the state’s measure of a student’s ability to succeed next year without intervention — dropped across most grades and subjects from 2023.

Timeline of accountability changes

2019: Students took old version of STAAR test. A-F accountability ratings follow original standards. 

2020: The state cancels STAAR tests and A-F ratings because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021: Old version of STAAR test resumes. A-F ratings canceled.

2022: Students take old version of STAAR. TEA partially releases A-F ratings, grading A-C districts and leaving D-F districts “not rated.”

2023: STAAR test is updated and administered only online. A-F scoring systems overhauled, but ratings are halted following a still-pending lawsuit from school districts. TEA releases “what if” grades for 2022, applying its new rating system to the previous year’s grades.

2024: Updated STAAR test is administered, with scores continuing to decline. New A-F accountability scores with new measures pending release.

The percentage of Arlington ISD students who met expectations in third through eighth grade hovered between 20% and 44%. Trustees criticized the numbers, however, saying the language TEA uses to define “grade level expectations” is overly bleak and makes performance look worse than it is.

Given the decline in STAAR test scores and the TEA’s broader changes to A-F ratings, Lopez said she anticipates schools across Texas will see lower scores in 2024 than in 2022.

Arlington ISD Superintendent Matt Smith told the Report he takes full accountability for his district’s ratings and will use them as a tool for improvement. But because the state’s expectations are in constant flux, he believes parents and teachers should be careful not to overemphasize their importance, he said.

“Look at the experience your student is having in school — do you feel like your student is safe and cared for? Are they challenged?” Smith said. “I believe that most parents, when you ask them, ‘Do you love your school? Do you like your students’ teachers?’ the answer to that is almost always yes.”

Arlington ISD trustees said Gov. Greg Abbott’s push for a private school voucher program, combined with what they see as a harsher accountability system, is part of a larger effort to paint public schools in a bad light. 

“We’ve got this new system coming along that’s going to make us look like we weren’t as strong as we were the last time we got scored fairly,” Chapa said. “Incidentally, it’s happening at the same time that the state is pushing this school voucher system, so maybe there’s an incentive for public school districts to not look so strong this next year.”

Accountability ratings for the 2023-24 school year are expected to be released Aug. 15.

Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.