August 22, 2024, Lancaster ISD/Lancaster,TX–Despite ongoing challenges within the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) accountability process, we remain committed to keeping our stakeholders informed every step of the way. Our dedication to clear and open communication is unwavering as we navigate these changes together. Recognizing that accountability assessments in Texas continue to be both contentious and complex, we remain transparent with our community and would like to provide the following update.
TEA Accountability Update
Typically, at the start of the school year, Texas school districts receive state assessment scores from the TEA. Unfortunately, this hasn't happened in Texas since August 2022, when Lancaster ISD proudly earned a "B" rating. Since then, TEA has made significant changes to the accountability metrics and scoring system, which have greatly affected how school districts across the state are evaluated. These changes were also introduced after the start of the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, giving educators little time to adjust and prepare students for state assessments.
District Accountability Score
Due to lawsuits against the TEA challenging the state assessment process and scoring, no official ratings for any school district in Texas have been released since 2022. As a result, we've had to rely on raw data and projection tools to manually estimate our district’s score with limited information. Based on the limited release of assessment projections and the latest accountability metrics and scoring system, Lancaster ISD is expected to receive a "C" rating at the district level.
We want to emphasize that this is an unofficial score, manually calculated by our accountability team, and it could change once the TEA releases the actual rating information, along with guidance on how the final scores will be determined. We understand that this projected score does not fully capture our students' achievements or the dedication of our educators. We remain committed to advocating for a fair and equitable accountability system that truly reflects the hard work and success of our students and staff.
District Highlights
We want to commend our accountability team for their hard work in reviewing endless amounts of raw data and their ability to identify the following assessment highlights based on the limited information provided by TEA:
District Performance
Fifth grade math students improved by 15 points compared to their 4th-grade cohort
Fourth grade ELAR students increased by four points compared to the previous year's cohort
English 2 students showed a three point gain compared to their previous year’s English 1 cohort.
School Performance
Lancaster ISD has successfully graduated 100% of its seniors for the third consecutive year.
Lancaster High School’s overall College, Career, and Military Readiness score increased by 12 points, moving from 72 to 84. The improvement strongly indicates that college and career readiness efforts are effective, with year-over-year gains in CCMR performance.
GWC 6th Grade STEM Learning Center showed significant progress, improving its score by ten points, moving from an F to a C rating.
While many schools in the state of Texas are experiencing declines, the improvement at the GWC 6th Grade STEM Learning Center stands out. This progress may suggest that successful interventions and strategies at this school could potentially be replicated across other schools in the district.
Ongoing Litigation
We also want to remind our stakeholders that in 2023, Lancaster ISD, along with 119 other school districts, joined a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency challenging the fairness and equity of the new accountability standards. On Monday, August 12, 2024, a Travis County judge blocked the Texas Education Agency from releasing its accountability ratings for a second year in a row due to changes in the metrics used to measure student performance.
It is safe to say that we do not know when we will have official scores for our district; however, we will keep our stakeholders informed. We also encourage our community to advocate for a fair and equal process with TEA and join us in this effort to ensure that the accountability system is not only fair and equitable but also one that truly prepares our students for a successful educational experience. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.