Accountability

Why a Judge Stopped Texas from Issuing A-F School Ratings

By Evie Blad — October 27, 2023 2 min read
Laura BakerEducation Week via Canva  (1)
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A Texas judge has ordered the state not to release annual A-F school ratings in response to a lawsuit from dozens of districts that argued changes in the accountability metric were unfair and announced in a way that violated state law.

Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy issued a preliminary injunction in the case, ruling that the districts would likely succeed in their arguments. The order will stop the state from announcing its latest school grades until the judge can consider the full case in a trial set to begin in February.

School ratings based on test scores remain among the most polarizing of education policies since they debuted in the 1990s. The scores can affect real estate prices, shape public perception of schools, and affect teacher morale, studies have shown.

A coalition of more than 100 districts, including Dallas, argued in the suit that releasing the ratings in November, as the Texas Education Agency had planned, would cause them irreparable harm, opening the door for potential state intervention in some places and increasing public confusion about schools’ performance. Their arguments come as state lawmakers consider expanding private school choice options in a special session.

Applying a new, tougher formula to last school year’s data would unfairly make it appear that their schools have worsened—even though outcomes have actually improved in many cases, the districts contend. To comply with state law, Education Commissioner Mike Morath should have made districts aware of the criteria at the start of the 2022-23 school year instead of releasing a preliminary draft in May, the lawsuit said.

“We look forward to future conversations with Commissioner Morath about how to implement the assessment and accountability system in a manner that is fair and transparent for all school districts in the State of Texas,” said a statement from Cecilia Reynolds-Perez, the superintendent of the Kingsville school district, which was the lead plaintiff in the case.

The Texas Education Agency told the Dallas Morning News it plans to appeal the decision.

“This ruling completely disregards the laws of this state and for the foreseeable future, prevents any A-F performance information from being issued to help millions of parents and educators improve the lives of our students,” the agency said in a statement.

The state’s planned “accountability refresh” would increase the cutoff points necessary to receive a high grade in college and career readiness, a metric that measures how many of a district’s graduates enroll in college and enlist in the military, among other things.

Previously, a district could get an A in readiness if 60 percent of graduates took such a step. Under the revised system, it would take 88 percent of graduates to reach an A.

Schools would also need to work harder to earn a high grade for improving students’ state test scores under the new measures.

Morath has argued that the agency wanted to make revisions that were significant enough to remain the same for several years so that districts would have “apples-to-apples” data to make improvements. In August, he told the state board of education that such a revision would replace a previous approach of making smaller, incremental changes every year that made it more difficult to compare data over time.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Leadership in Education: Building Collaborative Teams and Driving Innovation
Learn strategies to build strong teams, foster innovation, & drive student success.
Content provided by Follett Learning
School & District Management K-12 Essentials Forum Principals, Lead Stronger in the New School Year
Join this free virtual event for a deep dive on the skills and motivation you need to put your best foot forward in the new year.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Modern Data Protection & Privacy in Education
Explore the modern landscape of data loss prevention in education and learn actionable strategies to protect sensitive data.
Content provided by  Symantec & Carahsoft

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Accountability Opinion What’s Wrong With Online Credit Recovery? This Teacher Will Tell You
The “whatever it takes” approach to increasing graduation rates ends up deflating the value of a diploma.
5 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Accountability Why These Districts Are Suing to Stop Release of A-F School Ratings
A change in how schools will be graded has prompted legal action from about a dozen school districts in Texas.
4 min read
Handwritten red letter grades cover a blue illustration of a classic brick school building.
Laura Baker, Canva
Accountability What the Research Says What Should Schools Do to Build on 20 Years of NCLB Data?
The education law yielded a cornucopia of student information, but not scalable turnaround for schools, an analysis finds.
3 min read
Photo of magnifying glass and charts.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Accountability Education Secretary: Standardized Tests Should No Longer Be a 'Hammer'
But states won't ease accountability requirements until federal law tells them to do so, policy experts say.
5 min read
Close up of a student holding pencil and writing the answer on a bubble sheet assessment test with blurred students at their desks in the background
iStock/Getty