In the newly released A-F accountability ratings, Houston ISD’s Black-majority high schools, located in some of Houston’s poorest neighborhoods, received concerning results.
HISD received a “C,” its score dipping from 88 in 2022 to 72 in 2023. The rating reflects data from before the school district’s state takeover and Superintendent Mike Miles’ appointment.
HISD’s Black-Majority schools: struggling for gains
Here is how high schools in HISD with a significant Black student enrollment scored:
Other school districts like Galena Park ISD and Pasadena ISD serve large numbers of minority students (low-income Hispanic and emergent bilingual students), secured solid B grades, which seem elusive for historically Black HISD high schools.
Other school district ratings
Nearly 7.6% of Texas schools received an F grade in 2023, up from 4.5% in 2019. Low performance is significant as school districts with failing grades can face a state takeover, much like Houston ISD in 2023.
More than 8,500 public schools were evaluated, out of which 19.3% received an A, 33.6% a B, 24.7% a C and 14.8% a D.
Here is how Houston-area school districts scored:
A recap
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) published A-F accountability ratings for public school districts and campuses after a 19-month legal battle. An injunction against TEA, filed by 120 public school districts to stop the agency from revamping its calculations, blocked the ratings.
The school districts sued, alleging TEA made it more difficult to earn a higher score and claimed they had not been given enough time to change how the scores were calculated. But an appeals court earlier this month lifted this injunction, thereby allowing TEA to release the ratings.
“For far too long, families, educators and communities have been denied access to information about the performance of their schools, thanks to frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax dollars filed by those who disagreed with the statutory goal of raising career readiness expectations to help students,” said TEA Commissioner Mike Morath. “Every Texas family deserves a clear view of school performance, and now those families finally have access to data they should have received two years ago. Transparency drives progress, and when that transparency is blocked, students pay the price.”
The TEA cannot share the 2023-24 school year ratings due to a separate and ongoing lawsuit.
Accountability ratings from the current 2024-25 school year are scheduled for release in August 2025.
Why the drop?
The statewide crash in ratings can largely be attributed to Texas raising the benchmarks for college, career, and military readiness. Despite more seniors meeting readiness standards than before, nearly 90% of campuses saw their readiness scores decrease, reflecting the new, tougher standards.
“We keep raising the bar so that Texas is a leader in preparing students for postsecondary success,” Morath said.
What’s next?
While HISD has shown early signs of academic success in the National Assessment of Educational Progress since the TEA takeover of the school district, its improvement in the accountability scores is yet to be seen.
HISD has touted academic improvements since 2023, but the new ratings expose the depth of the district’s challenges under the old leadership and the need for more targeted support toward Black-majority schools that are at a risk of being trapped in a cycle of low ratings.
