Texas Education Agency releases school grades

The Texas Education Agency released its first public school ratings in three years yesterday.

• Despite the ongoing teacher shortage and students dealing with COVID class disruptions, Houston ISD and other Texas school districts showed improvements.

Why it matters: The ratings, which are largely tied to statewide standardized test scores and how schools are educating disadvantaged students, give an overview of how students are performing after two full school years during the pandemic.

Driving the news: 25% of districts and 33% of schools improved their A-F letter grade from 2019.

• Of note: The TEA only issued A-C grades. Districts and schools that would have received a D or F were labeled “Not Rated” this year to allow schools more time to recover from the pandemic.

By the numbers: Less than 7% of the nearly 8,500 schools evaluated performed poorly enough to not receive a rating.

• 28% received an A rating
• 46% received a B
• 19% received a C
• Yes, but: Only 18% of "high-poverty" campuses in Texas were rated A. Of the schools that received a "Not Rated" label, over half of them were "high-poverty" schools, where over 80% of their students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Zoom in: HISD maintained its B rating and its score of 88.

• Details: 96 HISD schools received an A, 117 received a B, 43 schools received a C, and 10 were not rated due to their low grade.

What they're saying: "Overall, we're happy about the progress that we've seen. As I look at it in its totality, there is still work to do, and we're willing to do that work," HISD Superintendent Millard House said at a press conference Monday.

• "As we move forward with the implementation of new curriculum, as we move forward with new systems and processes, we expect that there will be more progress over the course of time."

Go deeper: Search your district or schools at txschools.gov.