Midway ISD keeps A rating; sets sights on 60% "masters" on state tests

Midway Independent School District officials told the school board they will keep the district -rated (scale score 90) for 2024 and 2025 and are setting an ambitious target to raise the percentage of students scoring at the STAAR program eveloper esignated "masters" level to 60% across the district.

District staff presented the 2025-26 district and campus improvement plans during the board meeting and framed the new targets as extensions of House Bill 3 goals already embedded in school plans. "We went from an A to an A, from a 90 to a 90 in '24 to '25," said Doctor Otagema, the staff member who presented the accountability review. Otagema said the district plans to push higher-order thinking and vocabulary work, revise instructional expectations and expand leadership coaching to increase the district's masters-level performance.

Why it matters: district ratings and performance bands determine public accountability comparisons and shape campus goals and spending priorities. Doctor Allen, Midway ISD superintendent, told trustees that enrollment and state attendance measures (WADA) inform revenue projections: "in comparison to the first 10 days of the prior school year, our current enrollment is down 77 students, a little bit less than 1%," Allen said, adding that Day 10 enrollment was 8,712 and the most recent reported enrollment in the packet was 8,739.

What staff reported: the presentation compared 2023, 2024 and 2025 STAAR results by grade and subject. Highlights cited by Otagema included strong third-grade reading and fifth-grade science and improvements in Algebra I and high school indicators; the district —ollege, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) measure was reported at about 95.5% for the published cohort. Otagema summarized campus-level movement: the district had five campuses with A ratings in 2024 and seven in 2025, and 91% of campuses either increased or maintained their ratings year over year.

Targets and measures: staff described specific numeric goals included in the improvement plan: - Third-grade reading (STAR Reading meets level): target 70%, achieved 68% in 2025, up from prior years. "68 is the meets target," Otagema said. - Third-grade math (STAR Math meets level): target 75%; current meets-level performance reported at 62. - Increase the district masters rate from about 35% currently to 60% over the planning horizon; Otagema said raising masters-level performance would be a focus across grade bands. - Maintain or improve CCMR and graduation rates (graduation rate reported at 99.7% for the cohort cited).

Instructional actions and supports: the district plans to emphasize higher-order thinking (revised Bloom's taxonomy), rollout leadership and instructional coaching, and continue curricula updates (science curriculum implementation was cited). Staff said their approach includes dual tracking of state accountability metrics and local screeners to ensure alignment. "We're wrapping up the beginning of year screener windows, so we'll have that very shortly," Otagema said when asked how local measures will align with state results.

Behavior, culture and staff supports: the improvement plans couple academics with culture and staff-focused objectives. Staff listed continued use of Leader in Me and CharacterStrong programs, a district classroom behavior-management framework (Safe and Civil Schools), and safety/cybersecurity measures. Board members asked about supports for staff mental health; staff said the district now provides an on-staff licensed psychologist/counselor and expanded hours for that service: "she's a licensed psychologist, licensed counselor, on staff that our staff can reach out to," a district presenter said, adding that mentoring for first- and second-year teachers and learning coaches are also in place.

Constraints and next steps: Allen cautioned that projected state revenues depend on WADA and that a fuller finance update is expected in October once attendance and enrollment stabilizes. Otagema and staff said campus improvement plans and the district plan will be used to set implementation timelines and targets for the 2025-26 year; trustees asked for metrics and progress reports tied to both state indicators and local screeners.

Discussion vs. decision: this item was presented as information and planning; the board did not take formal action to adopt new policy during the meeting. Staff requested and received feedback; formal approval of the district improvement plan appeared on the consent agenda and was approved as part of the consent items.

For the record: staff repeatedly emphasized gains in achievement and growth even though the district-level scale score read as "flat" (90 to 90) year to year because more campuses moved up and more students attained higher performance bands than a single composite score indicates.

Ending: district staff said they will report progress to the board and return with updated WADA/enrollment figures in October and monitor mastery-growth measures through both state releases and local screener data.