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Castleberry ISD Superintendent Renee Smith-Faulker, dressed in an Olympic-themed outfit during the district’s annual pep rally Aug. 5, leads a procession of teachers into the Castleberry High School gymnasium. (Courtesy | WRA Architects Inc.)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/image2.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/image2.jpeg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>All but one Castleberry ISD campus performed better during the 2023-24 school year than it did during the 2022-23 school year, according to the district’s self-reported accountability ratings certified by the Texas Education Agency.As the TEA faces ongoing legal battles preventing the release of A-F ratings across the state, some districts, including Castleberry ISD, have opted to disclose their results independently.Castleberry ISD, which covers River Oaks, Sansom Park and parts of Fort Worth, was the first district in Fort Worth to do so in a late August news release. Castleberry ISD had the TEA review and validate the district’s own calculations of its A-F ratings, according to the release. The ratings are calculated using a formula largely based on standardized testing results, graduation rates and college, career and military readiness outcomes, according to the TEA. The district’s internal calculations reveal a year-over-year improvement, with its overall rating rising from a 76 — a C — to an 82 — a B — between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. However, Castleberry’s current rating still falls short of the district’s 2021-22 rating.Castleberry ISD earned an 86 — a B — in 2022. Thanks to the legal challenges, schools and districts throughout the state haven’t been officially graded by the TEA since that school year.Schools originally expected to get their new letter grades on Aug. 15. But their release was delayed for a third time due to a Travis County court order. The order comes in response to a lawsuit from a handful of districts, alleging the grades would be invalid because they’re based on results from flawed state standardized tests. Districts argued a new automated grading tool on STAAR tests contributed to low reading scores.When ratings were initially blocked in 2023, lawsuits — joined by more than 100 Texas school districts, including Fort Worth ISD — argued that changes to the metrics used to assess school performance would adversely affect their ratings. Districts also cited TEA’s lack of transparency in notifying them how accountability ratings are calculated, especially as revisions to the rating system came in the same year that the state put into place a redesign of STAAR.As districts continue to argue that changes made to both the A-F rating system and STAAR tests after the 2021-22 school year would negatively impact their ratings, Castleberry ISD’s report reveals the district’s ratings did decrease between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. Ratings for all but one of seven campuses in Castleberry fell between those years. Still, Castleberry ISD is celebrating its more recent year-over-year rating increase as significant. The district attributed the progress made from 2022-23 to 2023-24 to significant strides in several areas, including:Fifth-grade math: An 11% improvement in students meeting grade level — up from 38% to 49%.

Seventh-grade reading: A 7% increase in students meeting grade level — up from 37% to 44%.

Eighth-grade math: A 7% increase in students meeting grade level — up from 31% to 38%.

Eighth-grade algebra: A 16% increase in students meeting grade level.

Eighth-grade biology: A 7% increase in students meeting grade level.“We are proud of the significant progress our students made during the 2023-24 school year,” Superintendent Renee Smith-Faulkner said in a statement to the Report. “A particular highlight is the outstanding performance of our fifth graders, who either met or exceeded state performance in (reading), math and science.” On the campus level, the district’s A.V. Cato Elementary School increased its rating from 76 to 85 and Castleberry High School rose from a 75 to an 84. Reach High School maintained its A rating.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r