School district receives rating for academic performance
The Dripping Springs Independent School District received an accountability rating of A on its 2021-2022 Texas Academic Performance Report from the Texas Education Agency. Its special education determination status was listed as “Meets Requirements,” which was the same as the year prior.
The report was presented at a DSISD Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Traditionally, the TAPR is received annually by each district in the state for the previous school year, providing information on school and district staff, programs and student demographics. It includes a range of information on the performance of students in each district and campus, broken down into student groups such as ethnicity and socioeconomic status. To gauge student and district improvement, this year’s TAPR compared 2022 STAAR test results to STAAR test results reported from 2021.
Notably, DSISD did not receive a typical district accountability rating in 2021. Instead, it received the status of “Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster.”
The state of Texas re-Friday quires each district to preclude, as part of its annual report, the progress of the district and each campus in the district toward meeting the goals set in the districts. For Dripping Springs, this included early childhood literacy and mathematics proficiency plans, as well as college, career and military readiness plans.
Last year, STAAR testing results in mathematics had presented a concern for the district.
“The math scores, in particular, were really concerning to me, but I want our community to know that one of the things the TAPR shows in DSISD is the experience that our teachers have,” former DSISD Board of Trustees Vice President Joanna Day said at the time. “Over 30% of our teachers are highly experienced teaching professionals ... I am confident we’re in a position to move forward and address the unfinished learning many of our students experienced (from the pandemic).”
According to the district’s report, the 2022 STAAR results showcased a significant over improvement in mathematics, with increased percentages of students at “meets grade level or above” in almost every grade.