McAllen ISD reviews TEA’s delayed A–F accountability ratings, warns tests and rules keep changing
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Summary
District leaders presented the newly released 2023 A–F ratings and projected 2024 results, reviewed litigation that delayed release, and described how the STAAR 2.0 redesign and possible House Bill 4 changes complicate year-to-year comparisons.
McAllen Independent School District administrators on Tuesday briefed the Board of Trustees on the Texas Education Agency’s recently released 2023 A–F accountability ratings, district projections for 2024, and how test redesign and litigation have complicated comparisons across years.
Superintendent Doctor Gutierrez told trustees that the 2023 accountability ratings were delayed by litigation and noted the state’s testing and accountability rules have changed multiple times in recent years. ‘‘We feel very comfortable that those projections for 2024 are identical once the state releases those scores,’’ he said; staff presented a district projection that would raise the district score from an 87 in 2023 to an 89 for 2024.
Nut graf: The presentation reviewed why the 2022–23 and 2023–24 ratings are not directly comparable — litigation kept the 2023 results from public release and the state introduced STAAR 2.0 with new item types and automated scoring — and outlined potential further changes if House Bill 4 passes.
What changed and why it matters Christian Quintanilla, Director for Accountability, explained the accountability framework’s domains and how the 2023 methodology differs from earlier years. She said the state moved from STAAR 1.0 to STAAR 2.0 and changed growth calculations: under the earlier system a student could earn full growth credit even if they did not reach the passing standard; the revised 2023 rubric reduced or removed growth credit where students remained below proficiency bands. Quintanilla also identified new item types on STAAR 2.0 — extended constructed responses, short constructed responses, drag-and-drop and dropdown items — and noted a key change to scoring: 2023 relied on automated scoring engines for extended writing responses, a factor that contributed to a high volume of zero scores statewide and to the lawsuit.
District results and projections The district reported an 87 (B) district rating for 2023, with high schools performing strongly and Lamar Options (alternative campus) noted for high marks. McAllen ISD earned the Postsecondary Readiness distinction in 2022, 2023 and in the district’s 2024 projections. Quintanilla presented district projections showing improvement in most domains for 2024 (projected overall rating 89), while cautioning those projections are subject to change because the 2024 state ratings remain under litigation.
Looking ahead Superintendent Gutierrez warned the board that House Bill 4 in the state Legislature could restructure testing frequency and content, potentially moving to three tests per year with fewer subjects tested at each administration. ‘‘It’s going to be a game changer once again,’’ he said, and urged trustees that the district will need to continue aligning curriculum and professional development to new testing rules.
Ending The board received the presentation for information and asked administrators to continue tracking state rule and test-design changes and to report final TEA ratings when released.
