Duncanville ISD board hears TAPR showing district 'C' and special education 'needs intervention'
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Summary
At a public hearing on the 2024–25 Texas Academic Performance Report, district staff said the district earned a 'C' overall and that special education received a 'needs intervention' determination; trustees pressed administrators on what 'approaches' means and on recent TEA special education audits.
Doctor Nix, the district presenter, opened the board's public hearing on the 2024–25 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR), saying the report is "a descriptive report, not a rating system" and noting the district score is a C while the special education determination status is "needs intervention." She told the board the TAPR compiles lagging data from multiple sources — STAAR performance, graduation rates, CCMR measures and PEIMS financials — and that the district must treat the TAPR as a historical snapshot to inform strategy rather than a real-time score.
Trustees sought clarification about how the TAPR categorizes student performance. Trustee doctor Flowers said that students classified as "approaches" may still be one or more grade levels behind and typically require tiered interventions; doctor Nix agreed, adding that the state focuses calculations on the "meets" level rather than "approaches." Nix also said TEA conducted a recent site audit of the district's special education program and that the district met procedural requirements but fell short on performance outcomes for special education students.
The TAPR presentation included district demographic and accountability context: district economically disadvantaged students were reported at about 78.1 percent and the district described a relatively high at‑risk population. Doctor Nix also reviewed campus- and program-level breakdowns (AP/IB/CCMR) and noted the TAPR includes a multi-year financial snapshot; she told trustees the district had previously approved the annual financial report included in the TAPR.
On school safety metrics, Nix said the report listed three incidents for the 2024–25 year tied to a single event involving three students, plus one aggravated-assault incident and one felony controlled-substance violation in other categories. She invited questions and said administration would provide follow-up materials as needed.
The board had no public comments during the hearing and closed the session after trustees' questions. The presentation concluded with administration offering to provide additional detail and data to trustees and to post TAPR materials on campus and district websites as required by state law.