Dallas ISD is projected to receive an overall C rating from the state’s academic accountability system.
The rating is down from the B it earned in 2022. In 2023, the district was awarded a C.
The results come from Dallas ISD’s 2023-2024 updated report that includes test results and reading scores and compares Dallas ISD against other major school districts in Texas.
Students took the updated STAAR 2.0 test in the 2022-2023 school year. The test was made to be more accessible and relevant to what students are learning in the classroom.
However, test scores showed that student academic achievement fell, not only in Dallas ISD but across the state.
The number of Dallas ISD schools expected to receive D and F ratings increased significantly compared to 2022 before the changes to the STAAR exams were implemented.
Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde acknowledged this year’s projected rating in a public letter following the school district’s first week back to school.
“Our Board President Joe Carreón said it best when he said that no one, including me, is putting their heads in the sand. We all know that we have work to do to best serve our students, and we have the best team to do that work,” she said.
The report did contain some takeaways in Dallas ISD’s favor. More students are taking advanced or honors math in middle school, resulting in higher rates of achievement in Algebra 1.
The Texas Education Agency and the State Board of Education have worked to reframe the way students are taught math after math scores plummeted statewide, as reported by The Dallas Express.
STAAR results in 2023 showed that only 14% of Dallas ISD students in seventh-grade math met or exceeded grade level, compared to a statewide average of 35%. For science, 29% of fifth-grade Dallas ISD students and 34% of eighth-grade Dallas ISD students met or exceeded grade level, compared to statewide averages of 34% and 45%.
Additionally, the report claims that the longer students stay within Dallas ISD, the better they perform academically.
Dallas ISD’s economically disadvantaged population, which makes up 87.2% of the district, has shown better, and sometimes significantly better, performance rates than economically disadvantaged students in every other Texas urban school district.
“All in all, our journey this school year has gotten off to a strong start. Progress over perfection,” said Elizalde. “This is the place, the time, and you are the secret ingredient for making it happen! Thank you!”