Alief ISD -

April 25, 2025

Dear Alief ISD families, 

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced the statewide accountability ratings for 2023 yesterday. These ratings were delayed by a Texas court, which acknowledged concerns raised by many districts, including Alief ISD. The concerns focused on TEA's frequent changes to STAAR testing and accountability methods, which many feel fail to reflect school performance across districts accurately. To name a few:

• In 2023, the TEA changed the rules after students had already completed their 2022-2023 exams. This new methodology was also applied retroactively to the class of 2022, who had already graduated. A key change involved the College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) metric, raising the points required for an "A" from 60 to 88.

• The 2023 STAAR tests used a hybrid scoring model that combined automated scoring, artificial intelligence, and human scorers.

• The new "STAAR 2.0" required students in third grade and above to take the test online, using tools like drag-and-drop, graphing, drop-down menus, highlighting, and keyboarding for responses.

These changes had significant impacts:

• Students were penalized by rule changes they didn’t know about. It’s like thinking you’ve secured a victory in a football game, only to be told afterward that touchdowns were downgraded to 3 points instead of 6, and suddenly, you’re on the losing side.

• Schools prepared students for a test that was scored differently in the end.

• The CCMR scoring change heavily impacted high school ratings, which make up a large part of overall district grades.

• An AI system was introduced to grade student responses.

• Accountability rules were enforced in the same year as the introduction of a new test, without a gradual transition.

As a result, the number of campuses rated D or F increased significantly statewide:

• In 2022, there were 561 D & F-rated campuses.

• In 2023, there were 1,913 D & F-rated campuses.

• This represents a 241% increase in D & F ratings from 2022 to 2023.

In Alief, our 2023 overall rating was a C (74%), and we are maintaining our focus on student outcomes. Parents can view the district and campus ratings HERE.