Education
BY COMMUNITY IMPACT STAFF
Clear Creek ISD scored a “B” for the 2022-23 school year with 83 out of 100 possible points in the Texas Education Agency’s 2022-23 accountability ratings for school districts statewide. The ratings were released April 24 after a delay due to lawsuits, TEA officials said. The announcement follows an April 3 ruling by Texas’ 15th Court of Appeals, which overturned a lower court’s injunction that had blocked the 2023 ratings for over a year. In August 2023, over 100 Texas school districts sued TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, arguing the agency’s revamped accountability system was “unlawful” and would unfairly harm school districts. According to the TEA, 11% of all districts earned an “A” rating, while 40% earned a “B.” About 32% received a “C,” 14% earned a “D” and 3% earned an “F.” Clear Creek ISD earns ‘B’ rating for 2022-23 CCISD accountability ratings Since the A-F system launched in 2017-18, CCISD has only received three official ratings due to three years of State of Disaster declarations. 2017-18: Not rated due to Hurricane Harvey 2018-19: B (89) 2019-20: Not rated due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020-21: Not rated due to the COVID-19 pandemic
In a nutshell
2022-23 ratings were “updated to more accurately reflect performance.” CCISD was not one of the districts involved in the lawsuit. In an April 24 press release, officials noted the district saw an 18% increase in the number of distinctions received—from 62 to 76. Distinctions acknowledge districts and campuses for outstanding achievement based on several indicators. “Clear Creek ISD remains committed to provid- ing each student with a world-class education in a safe learning environment,” CCISD Superinten- dent Karen Engle said in the release. “CCISD was recently named the second-best place to teach in Houston and a top performing school district by Educational Results Partnership, among other accolades. We will continue to strive for educa- tional excellence within our schools while using data to guide our improvement efforts.”
The state’s A-F accountability system was designed to measure whether students are ready for the next grade level and how well each district prepares them for success after high school, Community Impact previously reported. “For far too long, families, educators and com- munities have been denied access to information about the performance of their schools, thanks to frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax dollars filed by those who disagreed with the statutory goal of raising career readiness expectations to help students,” Morath said in an April 24 news release. Texas school districts last received ratings through the A-F system for the 2021-22 school year, when about one-third of districts statewide earned an “A” rating for 2021-22, and slightly more than half earned a “B,” according to prior reporting. TEA officials said the methods of calculating
The breakdown
were elementary, three were junior high and two were high school, ratings show. No campus received a “D” or an “F,” according to the data.
Of CCISD’s 47 campuses, just 44 were included in the ratings. CCISD’s alternative and disciplinary schools were not listed with grades. Of its eight campuses that received a “C,” three
District snapshot, 2022-23
CCISD ISD ratings by campus, 2022-23 A: 9 B: 27 C: 8
47 campuses within district 40,469 students enrolled 37.2% economically disadvantaged 13.7% in special education
13.2% emergent bilingual 93% average attendance rate
21.3% missed 10% or more of the school year 16 students per teacher
2021-22: B (89) 2022-23: B (83)
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NOTE: CHART INCLUDES ONLY CCISD CAMPUSES THAT RECEIVED RATINGS
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
What’s next
with the highest degree of transparency to deliver the best outcomes that we can for our kids,” Morath said April 22.
“A-F ratings are very public, and so that is a leadership challenge that our leaders bear, but this is the cross that we bear for being publicly funded and having the public’s children in our schools. It’s up to us to operate
The TEA remains blocked from issuing ratings for the 2023-24 school year due to a separate lawsuit, which is pending in the state appeals court. Morath also said the TEA intends to release ratings for 2024-25 on Aug. 15.
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