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On Monday, Aug. 15, the Texas Education Agency released its 2022 accountability ratings for districts and campuses across the state.
Dripping Springs ISD saw high marks across the board with an overall A rating and a numerical score of 93 (out of 100), improving by two points from its 2018-2019 rating. Ratings are intended to reflect “how much students are learning in each grade and whether or not they are ready for the next grade,” according to the TEA’s website. These were the first ratings to be issued since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
DSISD was one of 396 districts in the state (33%) to receive an A rating, scoring higher than any other Hays County school district. Meanwhile, Hays County districts received a variety of ratings: Wimberley ISD earned an A rating (with a numerical score of 91), Hays Consolidated ISD earned a B rating (with a numerical score of 87) and San Marcos Consolidated ISD received a C rating (with a numerical score of 78).
Five of DSISD’s eight campuses earned A ratings: Cypress Springs Elementary, Rooster Springs Elementary, Sycamore Springs Elementary, Walnut Springs Elementary and Sycamore Springs Middle School. This number was up from just two schools in 2019. Only 28 percent of Texas campuses earned the highest A rating.
Dripping Springs Elementary (87 out of 100 points), Dripping Springs Middle School (89 out of 100 points) and Dripping Springs High School (89 out of 100 points) were among 46 percent of schools that earned a B rating.
Both Cypress Springs Elementary and Rooster Springs Elementary also earned distinction designations for exceptional achievement in Comparative Closing the Gaps for scoring in the top 25 percent within their campus comparison group.
The state ratings are determined by three factors: Student Achievement, School Progress, and “Closing the Gaps.” Student Achievement is measured solely by STAAR test results at the elementary and middle school level. College, career and military readiness as well as graduation rate are factored in for high schools. School Progress measures academic growth or relative performance on STAAR tests. Closing the Gaps looks at multiple factors (academic achievement, federal graduation or growth status, English language proficiency, and school quality or student success) for all students and also for several student sub-groups.
Each factor is assigned its own rating, which is taken into account for a district’s overall score. DSISD earned a 93 (out of 100) in Student Achievement, a 90 in School Progress and a 93 in Closing the Gaps.
Dripping Springs continues to keep its Distinction Designation, also assigned by the TEA, for Postsecondary Readiness.
Both districts and campuses that demonstrate acceptable performance are eligible for a distinction designation for outstanding academic performance in attainment of postsecondary readiness. To earn a distinction for postsecondary readiness, an elementary or middle school must be in the top quartile for at least 50 percent or more of all the indicators for which they have data, high schools and K–12 campuses must have at least 33 percent of their indicators in the top quartile of their campus comparison groups, and districts must have at least 55 percent of all their campuses’ postsecondary indicators in the top quartile. Districts with fewer than five campus-level postsecondary indicators are not eligible for the postsecondary readiness distinction.
More information can be found at txschools.gov.
