Assessment Resources
- What Is A–F?
The A–F Accountability System is a statewide rating system established by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that evaluates the academic performance of Texas public schools and assigns letter grades A–F to districts and campuses.
Overall, the A–F Accountability System aims to measure what students are learning in each grade and whether or not they are ready for the next grade. It also shows how well a school prepares its students for success after high school—in college, the workforce or the military.
The accountability ratings evaluate three domains:
Student Achievement measures whether students met state standardized (STAAR/End of Course) test expectations. It also measures graduation rates and how prepared students are for success after high school.
School Progress
School Progress shows how students perform over time and how the school's performance compares to other schools with similar economically disadvantaged student populations.
Closing the Gaps
Closing the Gaps tells us how well a school or district is ensuring all student groups are successful.
The three domains will be combined to calculate an overall rating.
- A-F Refresh
In Fall 2023, Texas will complete the refresh of the accountability ratings system that measures the performance of public school systems, including traditional ISDs and charters, along with individual campuses.
- 2023 Ratings Will Be Different
- Students took a new, redesigned STAAR/EOC assessment in 2023
- 2022-23 ratings will be based on a different set of rules than previous A–F ratings
- 2022 and 2023 ratings cannot be easily compared side by side
- It is highly possible a campus with an A rating in 2022 may improve in 2023 and yet receive a lower rating for 2023
- What Does This Mean for Plano ISD?
The recent changes to the accountability system will impact every school district and campus in the state. Plano ISD has robust systems in place to monitor student performance and growth on various measures and diligently works to improve student outcomes. Most notably the A–F Refresh will impact the accountability ratings of our three Senior High Schools as the changes made to the CCMR calculations occurred after the graduation classes of 2022 and 2023.
Plano ISD is working diligently to adjust to these new measures to ensure not only that all students are ready for their futures but also exceed the criteria set by the State of Texas.
- Changes to the Accountability Rating System
STAAR Redesign Changes
Students experienced a very different testing experience in the Spring of 2023 than they have in the past. Some of the redesign changes students experienced include:
- New question types, such as multi-select, multipart, graphing and other mathematical modeling aides
- Inline answer choices
- Drag and drop, matching
- Text entry
- Short constructed response (RLA, Science, and Social Studies)
- Extended constructed response (RLA only)
In addition to new question types, the redesign added cross-curricular passages, and evidence-based writing in all levels of the Reading-Language Arts test.
College, Career & Military Readiness (CCMR) Changes
TEA measures CCMR for campuses and districts based on a variety of measures including test score, industry-based certifications and college-level coursework. TEA has now eliminated some of the popular industry-based certifications and added course requirements to be considered career ready. This change will have a significant impact on our high school students who are considered career ready because of the industry-based certifications they earn but will not be considered career ready by the TEA.
The most significant change is the increase in the percentage of CCMR-ready graduates that a campus needs to earn an A rating, which has increased from 60% to 88%, applied retroactively to 2022 graduates (who are included in 2023 accountability ratings). Additionally, when evaluated across each student group, CCMR targets are increasing by up to 37%.
Closing the Gaps Changes
This is the domain that measures the performance of various different student groups. In the past, at least 25 students were required in a group for that group's performance to count toward an accountability rating. The number of students has now decreased to 10. There will also be changes to which student groups are evaluated for each campus, the performance targets that each student group needs to meet for each area, and how the overall Closing the Gaps domain is scored for the assignment of a letter grade rating.
District Rating Changes
The way district ratings have been calculated will change. Previously, district ratings were calculated similarly to high school campus ratings, with 40% of the district rating from STAAR results, 40% from CCMR and 20% from graduation rates. Now, the results from each campus will count proportionately toward the district’s ratings based on enrollment of 3rd-12th grade students at each campus. This proportional weighting will significantly impact all districts across the state, with decreases in ratings anticipated.
- For More Information
The Texas Accountability A–F letter grades are just one measure of how schools are performing. The letter grades are based on performance on state STAAR/EOC tests, CCMR and graduation rates.
Accountability ratings for 2023 are expected to be released by TEA. At that time, you may contact your child's campus to learn more about your district and campus ratings. Campus leadership will be able to share the district and campus successes as well as campus and district goals as well as specific program initiatives for the school year.