El Paso’s school districts began releasing some unofficial results from the Texas Education Agency’s A-F Accountability rating system Monday, even though a judge has temporarily blocked the state from making public the 2023-24 grades.
The Ysleta, Socorro and Canutillo independent school districts said their districts got a grade of B, while El Paso ISD said it got a C. The ratings for all four districts are down from the 2021-22 school year, the last time the state agency issued grades.
“We recognize that transforming our district will require an ongoing, comprehensive approach, starting with a guaranteed and viable curriculum along with strong campus leadership,” EPISD Superintendent Diana Sayavedra said in the news release. “Our efforts have been centered on fostering an environment where every student can achieve their full potential.”
Socorro, Ysleta and Canutillo officials praised their students and teachers for the ratings.
“We are proud of our teachers’ and students’ hard work and success,” SISD Interim Superintendent James P. Vasquez said in a news release. “The assessment results show that our students and staff are all in and, despite a challenging year, they continue to lead the way in the region.”
“Congratulations to all of our high-performing campuses for once again making us the highest-rated school district in the region for the third year in a row,” YISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre said in a news release.
“Despite the unfair and discriminatory higher grading standards imposed by the commissioner, I am proud to say that Canutillo ISD remains among the highest-performing districts in our region and the state,” Superintendent Pedro Galaviz said in a community announcement.
The A-F Accountability rating system grades school districts and campuses based on students’ performance on the state’s standardized test, graduation rates and college readiness, among others. This allows parents and community members to see how schools and districts are performing.
Poor performing schools and districts may have to go through additional monitoring and interventions.
The announcements by the school districts come a week after a Travis County judge temporarily blocked the agency from releasing ratings for a second year in a row, after a group of Texas school districts filed a lawsuit protesting changes to the metrics used to measure the ratings.
One of the main changes includes raising the benchmark for the number of seniors enrolled in college, pursuing a non-college career or entering the military from 60% to 88%.
The last time the TEA released accountability ratings was in 2022, after the system was put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.
EPISD announced it got an unofficial rating of 77, translating to a C grade for the 2023-24 school year, according to a news release published by the district Monday. Previously, the district got a B grade with an overall score of 88 for the 2021-22 school year.
The Ysleta and Canutillo independent school districts also announced their ratings dropped from an A to a B.
TEA records show YISD got an A during the 2021-22 school year with an overall score of 91. Now the district announced it has an unofficial B rating for the 2023-24 school year with a score of 86.
Canutillo ISD got an A rating during the 2021-22 school year with an overall score of 90, according to TEA records. Galaviz said the announcement that the district earned a B rating for 2023-24 school year, but did not give an overall score.
“The current grading system imposed by the state is flawed, and it fails to capture the true quality of education that our students receive. As a result, I have made the decision not to release details of the district’s ratings or test results publicly,” Galaviz said in the news release.
The Socorro Independent School District announced it got a B rating with an overall score of 83, according to its internal calculations released Monday. In 2021-22, it got a B with a score of 88.
The El Paso, Canutillo and San Elizario school districts are among a group of districts that previously filed a lawsuit blocking the release of the 2022-23 school year ratings, alleging that the TEA illegally changed the rating system after students had completed standardized testing.
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