Richardson ISD sees big gains in TEA’s accountability ratings

by Andrew Laska of Richardson Echo

The Texas Education Agency’s annual Accountability Ratings for schools were released on July 31, 2009. The Richardson Independent School District (RISD) showed improvement for the second year in a row. Of the 11 schools of the Plano Independent School District (PISD) that serve portions of Richardson in Collin County, there was also an increase in ratings.

The number of RISD campuses rated "exemplary" went from 27 in 2008 to 36 in 2009. In fact, the number of exemplary-rated campuses tripled in two years up from 12 in 2007. The number of "academically acceptable" campuses for RISD now stands at 1, which is down from 10 in 2007.

In the PISD serving Richardson, two campuses had 1 less exemplary campus when it went from 3 to 2 campuses. However, the number of "recognized" campuses for PISD doubled from 4 in 2008 to 8 in 2009.

In the case of the RISD, about 64% of all campuses are in the exemplary category. In the case of the PISD, 18% are exemplary. However, PISD now has 72% of its Richardson serving schools as recognized. Compare that to 2008 where the total of both exemplary and recognized schools was about 64%.

One big point of success for the RISD was its ratings of its high schools. In 2008, all RISD high schools were rated academically acceptable. That was unacceptable the Superintendent David Simmons, who told The Echo last year, “Our high school accountability ratings are not where we’d like them to be, and that continues to be one of our priorities moving forward.” In 2009, J.J. Pearce High School skipped a rating and went to exemplary while both Berkner and Richardson High School moved to recognized. Only Lake Highlands High School remains at the acceptable status.

Following up on last year's question on secondary schools, RISD Director of Communications Tim Clark said, "The continued hard work of thousands of staff and students, in conjunction with focused resources and support from our curriculum & instruction staff, resulted in the overall improvement of ratings for our secondary campuses." He added that the RISD would "continue to employ our philosophy of working to realize the maximum academic potential for every student."

RISD Board of Trustee President Kim Quirk put the ratings in perspective in a released statement: "While our students’ success under the accountability system is important, it is also essential that we focus on the academic potential of every student, challenging all to perform at their highest level, and ultimately be prepared for success in college and beyond."

See the tables below for a breakdown on ratings by school.

Number of Schools in Each Category