The state accountability ratings, released on Friday, show that the number of HISD schools with the state’s highest rating of Exemplary increased from 84 last year to 101 this year.
The number of HISD schools with the state’s two highest ratings of Exemplary and Recognized increased from 205 last year to 206 this year. As more HISD schools achieved an Exemplary rating, the number of Recognized schools declined from 121 to 105. The number of Acceptable schools increased from 47 to 51 and the number of Unacceptable schools decreased from 12 to 7.
This year, for the first time, the Texas Education Agency included in its accountability reports whether the Texas Projection Measure (TPM) was a factor in a school’s rating.
TPM is a statistical growth calculation that uses student level data and campus data to determine if a student who failed the TAKS test is likely to pass it in a future grade.
Even without TPM, HISD shows growth in the number of highly rated schools increasing from 165 Exemplary and Recognized schools last year to 169 this year. The number of Unacceptable schools without TPM declined from 24 last year to 17 this year.
The number of highly rated schools has been on the increase for several years. The district had 15 Exemplary and 69 Recognized schools in 2007. Those numbers increased to 38 Exemplary and 119 Recognized schools in 2008. The state began using the Texas Projection Measure in 2009.