District earns A rating from TEA

With the first release of the Texas Education Agency accountability ratings since 2019, Princeton ISD earned an A for its academic performance. With the A rating, PISD is one of the top schools in the state. No ratings were issued for the two previous school years because of COVID-related issues, but TEA’s last rating of PISD in 2019 was also an A rating.

Originally established by House Bill 22, districts are graded using a traditional report card system with assigned letter grades of A-C or not-rated.

Of the 1,207 school districts rated by TEA, Princeton ISD joins 396 districts who received an A rating, which represents 33 percent of school districts rated.

“Anytime TEA tells us that across the board our district performance is exemplary, that’s a good thing,” PISD Superintendent Donald McIntyre said.

Since 2018, districts, charters and schools are given an overall rating based on performance in three areas:

- “Student Achievement” shows how much students know and are able to do at the end of the school year.
- “School Progress” shows how students perform over time and how that growth compares to similar schools.
- “Closing the Gaps” shows how well different groups of students within a school are performing.

A-F accountability uses a variety of indicators such as graduation rates, college, career and military readiness, SAT/ACT scores and college prep course completion. The majority of a district’s rating is based on indicators other than the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test.

“It says a lot about our district to earn an A rating, which puts Princeton in the top third of all schools in Texas,” Mr. McIntyre said. “All of our schools have bragging rights, and this is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teachers and our curriculum department. This doesn’t just happen.”

Five Princeton ISD schools earned As for individual campus ratings, including Canup, Harper, Lacy, Smith and Southard. PISD campuses earning B ratings include, Godwin, Lowe, Clark, Lovelady and PHS.

In addition to the overall grades, TEA issued distinctions. Using multiple indicators, districts and campuses receiving distinctions had to rank in the Top 25 percent when compared to similar campuses in a comparison group.

Six of the nine PISD campuses eligible for distinctions earned some level of distinction, with both Southard and Clark middle schools leading the pack with six out of seven distinctions, followed by Lovelady and Harper each earning three distinctions.

“Every campus showed growth and improvement from the previous year,” Mr. McIntyre continued. “I am proud of our solid As and Bs across the district.”