Statement from MISD Superintendent Dr. Mark Ruffin on the Release of the 2022-23 TEA Accountability Ratings
On April 3, 2025, the Texas 15th Court of Appeals issued a ruling allowing the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to release A–F accountability ratings from the 2022–2023 school year.
Originally scheduled for release in August 2023, the ratings were delayed due to a lawsuit brought by more than 120 Texas school districts. The lawsuit challenged significant changes made to the state’s accountability system, arguing that TEA implemented those changes without sufficient advance notice or transparency. In October 2023, a judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the release of the ratings while the case proceeded.
The 15th Court of Appeals ultimately reversed that decision, allowing TEA to proceed with the release. While the court acknowledged that the revised system may have been unfair and unreasonable to school districts, it ruled that the changes were not illegal.
Montgomery ISD was not a party to the lawsuit but continues to monitor developments closely and remains committed to transparency and fairness in school accountability.
Montgomery ISD has received a “B” rating for the 2022-23 school year, which is a composite score from our individual campus ratings. MISD is committed to our mission and vision, which is not contingent upon state assessments or ratings, but focuses on ensuring all students are prepared with the knowledge and skills to be successful. With that, it’s important to add context and background to this rating and issue.
Background on the Accountability System
The A–F rating scale was established in 2017 to evaluate how effectively public schools serve students. Ratings are based on student achievement, academic growth, school progress, and efforts to close performance gaps between different groups of students. A large portion of a district or campus rating is tied to the results on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR), which measures student mastery of the state’s required curriculum.
The 2023 Accountability "Refresh"
In 2023, TEA introduced a substantial redesign of the accountability system, which included:
- A redesigned STAAR exam (STAAR 2.0) with fewer multiple-choice questions, more open-response questions, cross-curricular reading passages, and administered almost entirely online.
- Recalibration of various scale scores, on items such as academic growth measures, used to determine letter grades for student achievement and growth calculations.
- Stricter standards for performance, particularly in College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR), increasing the threshold for high schools to earn an “A” rating, from 60% to 88% of graduates meeting readiness criteria.
- Plans to use automated scoring systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to evaluate written student responses starting with the 2024 exam.
Why School Districts Challenged the Changes
While Montgomery ISD was not a party to the lawsuit, we shared the concerns raised by the more than 120 districts that filed the legal challenge. Their case focused on several key issues:
- Retroactive Changes to CCMR: TEA altered the college, career, and military readiness cut scores for each letter grade after the students being evaluated had already graduated. CCMR data usually has a two-year lag. Districts described this as “moving the goalposts after the ball was already kicked,” arguing they were judged on expectations they weren’t informed of during the school year for which the cut scores would be applied.
- Delayed Release of Accountability Formula: The updated scoring methodology wasn’t made public until October 31, 2023, months after testing had concluded and well beyond the start of the following school year. This delay prevented districts from aligning their planning and support systems with the new framework.
- Missed the Statutory Deadline: Under Texas law, accountability ratings are to be released no later than August 15 each year. TEA did not meet this deadline, and the ratings were still unreleased when the court issued its injunction in October.
- Unfair Scoring Impact: Many districts expressed concern that the recalibrated system resulted in lower ratings, even for campuses that had made academic progress, due to how new weightings and metrics were applied.
When the state changes any component of the STAAR test, it usually gives schools a year to review and adjust their instructional practices and methods of monitoring student progress before the new scores are used for an official rating.
Imagine if Montgomery ISD suddenly changed graduation rules in the middle of the year and applied it to students who had already taken courses and were on track to graduate by the prior standards. No student or parent would find that practice to be fair. Changing the metrics and methods for calculating A-F ratings after students had already taken the STAAR test and graduated, without time for districts and campuses to adjust, is just as unfair.
Although the April 3 court ruling now allows TEA to move forward with publishing the 2023 ratings, a separate lawsuit is ongoing regarding the use of automated scoring on the 2024 STAAR exam, delaying the release of 2024 accountability results.
Key Takeaways
At Montgomery ISD, we believe that no single test on a single day can capture the full picture of student success. Our district uses a wide range of data to monitor and support academic growth—including STAAR/EOC results, local benchmarks, PSAT/SAT/AP exams, classroom assessments, and, most importantly, the insight and expertise of our highly-qualified educators.
Montgomery ISD supports the TEA’s overarching goal of raising the bar for Texas students. Preparing students for success in college, the workforce, and beyond is central to our district’s vision and mission statements. However, we share concerns about the way accountability changes were implemented in 2023, especially the lack of timely communication and transparency.
Even TEA leadership acknowledged that the refreshed 2023 system would not allow for an “apples-to-apples” comparison with previous years’ ratings. This makes it difficult for educators, parents, and the public to clearly understand school progress over time.
We are also mindful of how the fully online, restructured STAAR exam in 2023 created a dramatically different testing experience for students across the state. This transition, while intended to modernize the assessment, introduced new challenges that must be considered in evaluating performance outcomes.
While no official rating was issued until now, we have consistently used the data from those assessments to inform and adjust our instructional practices—just as we do every year.
Here are the “What If” models if MISD’s 2022 assessment results were put through the 2023 revised accountability system.