District Accountability Rating Released

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released state accountability results for school districts across Texas in September 2022. Willis ISD schools received an overall grade of 77 on academic performance, earning the district a rating of C. The district earned a C in 2018 when the accountability system first began but had progressed to a B in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Schools did not receive ratings in 2020 or 2021. The district improved or performed the same in 12 out of 20 tested areas.

Dr. Harkrider, Superintendent, stated, “Despite growing in over fifty percent of tested areas, we did not bounce back from the pandemic as quickly as we would have liked to. However, we are confident in the ability of our educators and instructional teams to lead us in even more gains in 2022-23. The biggest area of concern is 6th-grade reading and math; and 8th-grade math. We have identified areas where we struggled, and have made necessary adjustments.” 

College, Career & Military Readiness (CCMR) is a component of the student achievement domain including dual credit and advanced placement tests, industry-based certifications and graduation rate are a few key indicators. In 2019-20 the Willis ISD component score was 47, and this year has increased to 50. The high school graduation rate has increased from 91 percent last year to 94 percent this year. 

“As a district, we don’t put a lot of emphasis on tests taken one day out of the school year,” said Harkrider. “We know that one day is not a full picture of the growth and success our students are making. We are proud of our students and educators and we will continue to look at ways to improve our district performance.”