117 AISD Schools Obtain State's Highest Rating
According to the Texas Education Agency's preliminary accountability ratings released today, 117 of the district's schools have met standard or met alternative standard-the highest rating schools can earn-on the state's accountability system, and 58 schools earned a total of 162 Distinction Designations. Five schools earned every available distinction designation: Liberal Arts and Science Academy and Blackshear, Blazier, Cowan and Gullett elementary schools. Under the state accountability system, all Texas public districts, campuses and charters are assigned a label of:
To receive a met standard or met alternative standard rating in 2017, a campus or district must meet targets set by the state on three of four performance indexes (Index 1 or 2, and both Index 3 and 4) of the state's accountability system. Campuses that achieve met standard are eligible for Distinction Designations for high performance on indicators beyond those used to determine accountability ratings. The district overall exceeded all targets of the state accountability system and earned a rating of met standard. AISD exceeded state targets on:
"We are proud of the progress we have made this year. While this is one indicator of student learning, we focus on the whole child for every child," Superintendent Paul Cruz said. "Thanks to our teachers and principals who work hard every day to ensure students are college-, career- and life-ready."
Additionally, five schools that were rated improvement required in 2016 met all standards in 2017: Norman and Pickle elementary schools, Dobie Middle School, Gus Garcia Young Men's Leadership Academy and Graduation Preparatory Academy at Lanier. "The last few years' work has really paid off, but we still have a lot of work to do. We'll continue to focus on closing the achievement gaps as we begin the 2017-18 school year," said Chief Officer for Teaching and Learning Edmund Oropez. For the third consecutive year, all AISD comprehensive high schools received a rating of met standard. This year, four Austin ISD schools will receive preliminary ratings of improvement required, down from eight in 2016. The schools are: Burnet, Martin and Mendez middle schools and Govalle Elementary School. The district is evaluating the results for all schools to determine if appeals of the improvement required ratings are warranted. Ratings are not official until after the appeals window closes and final accountability ratings are released in November. ### | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AISD is the largest school district in central Texas, serving more than 83,000 students at 130 schools. Follow AISD on Facebook at www.facebook.com/austinisd, Instagram at @austinisd or on Twitter at @AustinISD. |