The Texas Education Agency on Monday released its first public school ratings in three years. There are a total of 1,207 school districts in Texas, and 1,195 were evaluated. Out of the districts evaluated, 33.1% got an A, 54% got a B, 9.4% got a C and 3.5% got a “Not Rated” label.
In Brown County, Early, Brookesmith and May ISDs received A ranks, Brownwood, Bangs, and Zephyr ISDs received a B ranking, and Blanket ISD had a C ranking.
BrownwoodNews.com reached out for comments from the county superintendents, and those who have responded are as follows:
Brownwood ISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Young
“The A-F system, to me, is a very simplified approach to the complex work our students and staff put in on a daily basis. It does, however, give us some very useful information. I’m proud of the growth we see and I’m excited for all the opportunities ahead. It’s a great start to an exciting year.”
Early ISD Superintendent Dewayne Wilkins
“It is exciting for the community and Early ISD always when the ratings come out and they’re an A. The great thing is, when you look at the backside of that and we’re scoring 100 percent on numerous areas of that, that’s what’s amazing. You don’t see that in every school and it just makes for an exciting day and I’m so proud of our students and our staff and our community and the hard work that’s been put in to accomplish that.”
Bangs ISD Superintendent Josh Martin
“We got an 89, so we were one point from where we wanted to be but we’re working hard to get there. As a whole, our teachers and kids work their tails off. We want to get better at continuously improving our craft and we’re working on getting better every year.”
May ISD Superintendent Nick Heupel
“May ISD is extremely proud to be an integral part of the May Community. We have a wonderful group of teachers and staff who are well supported by a fantastic school board, parents and community. We are continually adding training for career and military opportunities as well as college readiness. This desire to continually improve opportunities for staff and students makes May ISD a great place to learn and grow.”
Zephyr ISD Superintendent Stanton Marwitz
“I haven’t had a lot of time to look at it in a lot of depth, but we’re always working at trying to make stuff better. Even if it’s the best it can be, I’m always going to find something to work on. Obviously, closing gaps is the thing we need to work on and we’ll see if we can improvement on that.”
The grades are determined by ratings in three categories: student achievement, student progress and how well a school closes student learning gaps. Two categories — student achievement and student progress — count for 70% of the overall grade. The remaining 30% of the score is based on a school’s closing the gap score.
The state agency’s ratings — tied in large part to results of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR test — are the latest metrics used to grade how well Texas public schools are performing as students emerge from the worst of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Grades for each Brown County ISD is as follows:
Brownwood ISD – B
Student Achievement – B
School Progress – B
Closing the gaps – C
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Early ISD – A
Student Achievement – A
School Progress – A
Closing the gaps – A
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Bangs ISD – B
Student Achievement – B
School Progress – A
Closing the gaps – B
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Blanket ISD – C
Student Achievement – C
School Progress – C
Closing the gaps – C
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Brookesmith ISD – A
Student Achievement – B
School Progress – A
Closing the gaps – B
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May ISD – A
Student Achievement – A
School Progress – A
Closing the gaps – B
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Zephyr ISD – B
Student Achievement – B
School Progress – B
Closing the gaps – C