Arlington Independent School District (AISD) says it will appeal to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) over what it claims was a state error that reduced accountability scores for several campuses.
AISD Superintendent Matt Smith said the issue arose from problems with the scoring of STAAR test results, which were evaluated using artificial intelligence for the first time this year.
“TEA listened when we picked up the phone and told them our concerns about the process. They acted on that, and I’m grateful,” Smith told WFAA.
The district paid more than $200,000 for human re-scores, which produced “slightly improved” results.
“Our re-score information, we submitted on time, shows that we had receipts for it, and there was an error on the back end. So, we didn’t get the re-score results at the same time that Dallas did, and everybody else did,” Smith said.
Because of the delay, Smith said at least five campuses’ grades will be affected.
“Without the re-scores, we project our district to be a C. We have 70 campuses in our district with their own individual ratings. We believe we will see an increase in five campus letter grades and significant score improvement across multiple campuses,” he told Fox 4.
While AISD works to correct what it says are state scoring errors, other North Texas districts are also facing heightened scrutiny from the Texas Education Agency.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the agency has notified the Fort Worth Independent School District that state intervention is mandatory due to persistent academic failures at a now-closed school, raising the possibility of a state takeover or further campus closures.
In a letter dated May 5, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath informed Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar and school board President Roxanne Martinez that the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade — which closed after the 2023-24 school year — failed to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years.
This triggers a state law requiring Morath to act, with options including appointing a board of managers to replace the district’s elected school board and superintendent or ordering additional campus closures.