CENTRAL TEXAS (KXXV) — The Texas Education Agency on Thursday morning released its latest accountability ratings for school districts across the state, revealing significant shifts in performance since the 2018–2019 school year.
- Waco ISD saw the steepest drop in performance, with its accountability rating falling from 81 in 2018–2019 to 65 for the 2022–2023 school year.
- College Station ISD earned the highest score among major Central Texas districts, scoring 81, despite a slight dip from 89 over six years.
- Temple, Killeen, and Bryan ISDs also saw declines, with Killeen ISD losing 14 points — the largest drop over time — while Bryan ISD had the smallest decrease at just two points.
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The Texas Education Agency on Thursday morning released its latest accountability ratings for school districts across the state, revealing significant shifts in performance since the 2018–2019 school year.
Waco ISD experienced the most notable drop among Central Texas districts. The district’s score fell from an 81 in 2018–2019 to a 65 for the 2022–2023 school year.
In a statement, Waco ISD Superintendent Dr. Tiffany Spicer said, “Recent changes to the state's accountability system have presented significant challenges for school districts across Texas.”
Temple ISD also saw a decline. The district received a score of 72, which is nine points lower than it was six years ago.
“These ratings are two years old and do not reflect the current state of student learning in our school district,” Temple ISD said in a statement.
College Station ISD earned the highest rating among the five major districts in Central Texas, scoring an 81 — down slightly from its previous score of 89.
Killeen ISD recorded the largest drop in points over the last six years, falling by 14 points.
Bryan ISD, meanwhile, remained relatively stable, with a slight two-point decrease in its overall rating.
You can find full statements from each district and a breakdown of the accountability ratings on our website.
Full statements from districts that responded below:
Waco ISD:
"Recent changes to the state’s accountability system have presented significant challenges for school districts across Texas. In 2023, the Texas Education Agency implemented major revisions to both the STAAR exam and the A–F rating methodology after the school year had already begun—an unprecedented move. Districts received little guidance, and final scoring methods were not communicated until months into the school year, leaving no chance to set meaningful performance baselines. TEA also introduced artificial intelligence into test scoring, raising concerns about reliability and transparency. For instance, the Class of 2023 was evaluated under new College, Career, and Military Readiness standards that weren’t released until six months after graduation. Historically, Texas phased in accountability changes. Abandoning that approach now, with so much at stake, is deeply concerning. A single test on a single day cannot define the value of our schools. At Waco ISD, we are committed to excellence in every aspect of education. Now that the rules are clear through 2028, we are focused on aligning our curriculum, strengthening our CTE pathways, and ensuring our strategic plan reflects the high standards our students deserve."
Temple ISD:
Statewide, these 2023 ratings reflect a shift in the grading system used by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) without legislative approval. These mid-year changes have made it substantially more difficult for campuses to earn high marks, due to districts and teachers not having appropriate time to prepare. In some cases, these changes were applied to students who had already graduated a year prior to these assessments. Temple ISD’s 2023 rating remains the same — a C. Our campus ratings reflect some increases and some decreases. The 2023 ratings also showed an increase in campus distinctions with Temple ISD earning a total of 21 distinctions — six more than the district received in 2022.
On one hand, given the changes to the assessment and accountability system, holding steady in our rating in 2023 demonstrates an improvement from 2022. On the other hand, as a continuous improvement district, we would like to see increases in more subject areas next year.
Overall, these ratings are two years old and do not reflect the current state of student learning in our school district. Since 2023, we have seen double digit increases in the number of students achieving college, career, and military readiness at our high school, aligned our instruction to meet the demands of the new assessments, and followed the state-wide trends in STAAR performance. We remain committed to address areas of improvement and support student achievement.
College Station ISD:
these ratings are based on data from two years ago, they don’t reflect the progress we've made since then. We've used that time to strengthen instruction, support our staff, and invest in strategies to help all students succeed—not just on STAAR, but in the many other ways we define success in CSISD.
While we’re still working to close learning gaps that may have been caused by the pandemic, the drop in some of our accountability ratings is more closely tied to the new standards and scoring methods introduced in 2023.
In many cases, students actually maintained or improved their scores compared to 2022, but schools may still have received lower ratings because the criteria for earning the same or higher letter grade changed significantly.
Killeen and Bryan ISD did not respond.
