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A Texas district court judge issued a temporary injunction on Oct. 26 that will enjoin TEA (Texas Education Agency) Commissioner Mike Morath from issuing A-F performance rating for the 2022-23 school year. The court ruled that any issuance of ratings would be illegal and cause harm to school districts.
TEA had proposed to raise the “cut score” necessary for a high school to receive an “A” in the College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR) domain from 60% to 88%, a 47% increase in one year, and apply the change retroactively to students graduated in 2022.
Material published by TEA stated that the new proposed cut score was set for two primary reasons:
• Too many schools are performing above the 60-point threshold; and
• 68% of students deemed college, career or military ready sustain postsecondary success one year after graduation.
TEA reported that goals of the A-F Accountability System include ensuring that no forced distribution exists overall, and that all schools have an opportunity to achieve an “A” rating.
In a letter dated March 6 to Morath and Gov. Greg Abbott, 233 Texas school districts, including West Orange-Cove Consolidated School District and East Chambers ISD, expressed concerns over the new rating system.
The collective wrote of “significant concerns” regarding the proposed update to the CCMR cut scores and the implementation of a grading refresh at the same time as another major change, the resigned STAAR exam.
There are 1,207 school districts in the state, with more than 2.7 million students, affected by the TEA grading system.