MAP: How your school is rated as Austin ISD faces possible state intervention

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Austin Independent School District's Board of Trustees approved plans for how it hopes to turn around three middle schools on track to receive a third failing state accountability rating soon.

The district risks its school board being temporarily replaced by a state-appointed board of managers if any single campus racks up five consecutive failing scores. The ratings for each individual campus are calculated by looking at performance in several areas:

• Student achievement: Evaluates performance on STAAR tests, graduation rates and College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR) indicators.
• School progress
  • Academic growth: Measures the number of students that grew at least one year academically as measured by STAAR results.
  • Relative performance: Measures the achievement of students relative to districts with similar economically-disadvantaged percentages.
• Closing the gaps: Reviews data to pinpoint differentials among racial/ethnic groups and socioeconomic backgrounds.

A lawsuit is preventing the Texas Education Agency from releasing the 2023-24 A-F ratings to the public, but Austin ISD has released projections for the 2024 ratings that estimate Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools will receive their third F ratings in a row. The 2022-23 school year ratings had previously been held up in courts after several districts sued the state to challenge changes to rating standards, but a judge ruled in favor of TEA releasing the scores.

According to Austin ISD officials, there are several other campuses that are on a similar — albeit less dire — path if significant changes aren't made. There are 16 other schools that will likely require a turnaround plan.

Here's what you need to know:

• The TEA did not issue ratings in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In 2022, ratings of A, B and C were issued. Under Senate Bill 1365, TEA was not allowed to issue ratings for schools with overall scores lower than 70 that year.
• Five unacceptable (F) ratings at a single campus can trigger state intervention. Texas law requires the Texas education commissioner to either order the closure of the campus or replace the district's elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers, as happened in Houston ISD.
• A C rating can break the chain of unacceptable ratings, while a D rating pauses the chain but does not break it. For example, a school that was rated F, D, F, F in the past four ratings is still considered to have three consecutive F ratings, while a school that was rated F, C, F, F only has two consecutive F ratings.

At this point, the 2019 and 2023 ratings are the only ones counting toward the consecutive F ratings for each campus. While the 2024 ratings have not been released due to ongoing litigation, Austin ISD has released projections for how it believes each campus will be rated. Those projections are reflected in the interactive map and table below.

Based on the 2024 projections, Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools are on their third consecutive F rating, while 16 other Austin ISD schools have had F ratings twice in a row. A further 19 schools received their first F rating in 2024, while 75 schools are in good standing.

The 2025 ratings are expected to be released in August. If Burnet, Dobie or Webb middle schools receive an F rating in the 2024 ratings — as projected — and again in the 2025 ratings, Austin ISD would then have one year to improve before a fifth consecutive F rating in 2026, which would trigger state intervention.