Four Longview-area school districts received overall B grades, one was handed an A and one district was given a C during the 2022-23 school year, according to newly released Texas school performance data.
Following a two-year lawsuit, the Texas Education Agency on Thursday released report cards that rated schools across the state during the 2022-23 school year, but that information probably is of little use to parents who want to see how their children性视界传媒檚 schools have performed recently, the agency性视界传媒檚 leader said.
The data was due to be released after the 2022-23 school year, but Texas school districts sued to block it, saying state officials didn性视界传媒檛 give districts time to adjust to new standards before being graded.
Spring Hill ISD had the highest grade of Longview-area districts with an overall A. Longview ISD, Pine Tree ISD, Hallsville ISD and White Oak ISD had overall B grades. Gladewater ISD had an overall C grade.
性视界传媒淔or 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,性视界传媒 Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath . 性视界传媒淓very 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.性视界传媒
To look at other districts in the area and learn more about each district性视界传媒檚 ratings, visit .
About the A-F rankingsState leaders adopted an A-F ranking system in 2018 as a way to give Texans an idea of how their schools are performing. Ratings are based on a school district性视界传媒檚 state assessments, graduation rates and college, career and military readiness outcomes, according to the state agency.
The methodology used to assign those grades to districts largely has been unchanged, but for the 2022-23 school year, that methodology was updated 性视界传媒渢o more accurately reflect performance,性视界传媒 Texas Education Agency officials said.
Shortly before the 2022-23 results were released, agency officials said the new grading methodology would be applied to districts性视界传媒 scores from previous years to give a comparison of whether districts were improving, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
That proposal concerned school administrators in Texas, who said the agency性视界传媒檚 decision would effectively move the goalposts for districts by retroactively applying the new standards to data from previous years, the Star-Telegram reported. They were concerned that the change would give their districts lower scores, according to the Dallas Morning News.
District leaders sued to block the release of the 2022-2023 results, and a Travis County judge issued an injunction prohibiting the state education agency from releasing the data. But the state性视界传媒檚 15th Court of Appeals overturned that injunction this month, allowing the data to be made public.
Another court case has resulted in the 2023-24 school year data being withheld.
Districts in the state were not rated during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here性视界传媒檚 a look at how Longview-area schools performed:
Gladewater ISDGladewater ISD received an overall C. The district received an overall B in 2018-19 and 2021-22. The district would have received a C in 2021-22 if the state性视界传媒檚 new grading standards had applied then.
Gladewater Middle School received a B, and Gladewater High School received a C. Gladewater Primary and Weldon Elementary received Ds.
District Superintendent Rae Ann Patty didn性视界传媒檛 return a call Thursday requesting comment.
Hallsville ISDHallsville ISD received a B. The district got an overall B in 2018-19 and was not rated in 2021-22. The district would have received a C in 2021-22 if the state性视界传媒檚 new grading standards had applied then.
One district campus, Hallsville Junior High, received an A. Four campuses received Bs: Hallsville High School, Hallsville West Elementary, Hallsville Intermediate and Texas Virtual Academy at Hallsville.
Two campuses received Cs: Hallsville North Elementary and Hallsville East Elementary.
Superintendent John Martin didn性视界传媒檛 return a call Thursday requesting comment.
Longview ISDLongview ISD, the area性视界传媒檚 largest district, received an overall B grade. The district received an overall B grade in 2018-19 and an overall A grade in 2021-22. Under the state性视界传媒檚 new grading methodology, the district would have received a B in 2021-22 if the new standards had applied then.
Four campuses received As: East Texas Montessori Prep Academy, Hudson PEP Elementary, Lead Academy High School and Longview High School.
Six campuses received Bs: Judson STEAM Academy, Foster Middle School, Bramlette STEAM Academy, J.L. Everhart Magnet Elementary School, Forest Park Magnet School and Ned E. Williams Elementary.
Three campuses received Cs: Ware Elementary, Clarence W. Bailey Elementary and Johnston-McQueen Elementary.
In a statement to the News-Journal, LISD spokesman Skyler Hefley said district officials are aware that the grades were released.
性视界传媒淭he updated methodology introduced by TEA created noticeable shifts statewide, and we are taking a measured, data-driven approach to understand and respond accordingly,性视界传媒 he said. 性视界传媒淎s with any release of statewide data, we are reviewing and actively working through this information closely. We will continue our commitment to providing a high-quality education for every student and will continue to partner with our families and community to ensure success in every classroom.性视界传媒
Pine Tree ISDPine Tree ISD received an overall B grade. The district received an overall B in 2018-19 and 2021-22. The district would have received a C in 2021-22 if the state性视界传媒檚 new grading standards had applied then.
None of the district性视界传媒檚 campuses received As. All but one campus, Parkway Elementary, received Bs. Parkway got a C.
Superintendent Steve Clugston said the 2022-23 ratings are irrelevant, as the district has moved on. While official ratings haven性视界传媒檛 been released for the 2023-24 school year, schools can calculate what the rates they would receive from the state education agency based on the same criteria.
Clugston said Pine Tree would receive an overall B, and all campuses except for Birch Elementary would receive Bs. Birch would get an A.
Clugston said the A-F grading system 性视界传媒渄oesn性视界传媒檛 always tell the true picture.性视界传媒 The system measures student achievement and student learning growth in a district, and whichever rating is higher is factored into the district性视界传媒檚 overall grade.
So, if a district性视界传媒檚 performance is low, but its students made significant growth in learning, the district can receive a better grade than one with already high performance levels but less growth. That性视界传媒檚 a problem, Clugston said.
性视界传媒淭here性视界传媒檚 not a perfect science to it is the problem,性视界传媒 he said. 性视界传媒淚 just think it should really reflect the overall job that a school does. And I don性视界传媒檛 know that you can do that with basically looking at quantitative data only.性视界传媒
He said the ratings should factor in qualitative data but acknowledge that such information would be based on people性视界传媒檚 opinions.
性视界传媒淲e want to be an A district,性视界传媒 he said. 性视界传媒淚 want to be at the top. But the better you get, the harder it is to move up. ... It looks at performance, but it does look at growth a lot. And the closer you get to being good, the harder it is to get growth.性视界传媒
Spring Hill ISDSpring Hill ISD had the highest grade of Longview-area schools with an A. The district received an overall A in 2018-19 and 2021-22. The district would have received a B in 2021-22 if the state性视界传媒檚 new grading standards had applied then.
Spring Hill Primary, Spring Hill Intermediate and Spring Hill High School received As, while Spring Hill Junior High received a B.
Although the data is two years old, Superintendent Penny Fleet said district leaders and staff are excited about the results. The data is still relevant for parents and educators because it shows that Spring Hill continues to excel, she said. Under the new grading criteria, receiving an A has become more difficult, making the district性视界传媒檚 rating more of an accomplishment.
性视界传媒淚f you look across the state, you性视界传媒檒l see a decline in the number of As during this 2023 ratings release, and so we性视界传媒檙e proud of the fact that we were able to maintain that,性视界传媒 Fleet said.
The district is administering its end-of-year assessments for the 2024-25 school year, and Fleet said district leaders have high expectations. She thanked the district性视界传媒檚 staffers and educators for their efforts.
性视界传媒淲e just want to ensure that we性视界传媒檙e offering students great educational opportunities here in Spring Hill, and even more importantly, we work to have a very positive climate and culture on our campuses so that students know they性视界传媒檙e cared about,性视界传媒 Fleet said.
White Oak ISDWhite Oak ISD earned an overall B. The district received an overall A in 2018-19 and 2021-22. The district would have received a B in 2021-22 if the state性视界传媒檚 new grading standards had applied then.
White Oak High School received an A. The intermediate, middle and primary schools received Bs.
Superintendent Jack Parker didn性视界传媒檛 return a call Thursday seeking comment Thursday.
