Reference Guide
TEA School Ratings Glossary
A plain-language guide to understanding Texas Education Agency accountability ratings, performance domains, and distinction designations for Austin-area school districts.
What is TEA?
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the state agency responsible for overseeing public primary and secondary education in Texas. TEA manages the statewide accountability system that evaluates every public school and district each year.
Through its accountability system, TEA assigns performance ratings based on standardized assessments (STAAR), graduation rates, college readiness indicators, and other measurable outcomes. These ratings help parents, educators, and communities understand how schools are performing relative to state standards and peer institutions.
TEA accountability data is publicly available and updated annually, typically released in August following the end of each school year.
Accountability Ratings
Since 2017, TEA has used an A-F letter grade system to rate schools and districts. Each entity receives an overall rating based on a score from 0 to 100, mapped to letter grades as follows:
| Grade | Score Range | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| A | 90 – 100 | Exemplary performance |
| B | 80 – 89 | Recognized performance |
| C | 70 – 79 | Acceptable performance |
| D | 60 – 69 | Below expectations |
| F | Below 60 | Unacceptable performance |
The overall rating is a weighted combination of scores across multiple performance domains. Districts are rated using the same scale but aggregate their campus-level results.
The Five Domains
TEA evaluates schools across five distinct performance domains. Each domain captures a different dimension of school quality, and together they form the basis for the overall A-F rating.
1. Student Achievement
Measures how well students perform on the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) tests in reading, math, writing, science, and social studies. This domain reflects the percentage of students who meet or exceed grade-level standards on these assessments.
For high schools, this domain also incorporates college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) indicators, including SAT/ACT scores, AP/IB exam results, industry certifications, and military enlistment.
2. School Progress
Evaluates year-over-year improvement in student outcomes at the school level. This domain has two components: the percentage of students who improved their performance from the previous year, and how the school's results compare to schools with similar student demographics.
School Progress rewards upward trends even when a school has not yet reached top-tier scores, recognizing that improvement is meaningful regardless of starting point.
3. Academic Growth
Tracks individual student progress over time using STAAR progress measures. Unlike Student Achievement (which looks at whether students meet a fixed benchmark), Academic Growth follows each student's trajectory, measuring whether they made expected progress, accelerated progress, or limited progress compared to their starting point.
This domain is particularly important for understanding how well a school serves students who enter below grade level, as it measures growth rather than absolute scores.
4. Relative Performance
Compares a school's performance to other schools serving similar student populations. TEA groups schools by demographic similarity (considering factors like economic disadvantage rates, English learner percentages, and special education enrollment) and evaluates how each school performs relative to its peer group.
This domain helps identify schools that are outperforming expectations given their student population, providing a more equitable basis for comparison than raw test scores alone.
5. Closing the Gaps
Measures how effectively a school is addressing performance differences across student groups, including racial and ethnic groups, students from economically disadvantaged households, students receiving special education services, and English learners. TEA sets specific performance targets for each student group, and schools earn points for each target they meet.
This domain is central to TEA's equity mission. A school can score well overall but still receive a low Closing the Gaps score if certain student populations are consistently underperforming.
Distinction Designations
In addition to A-F ratings, TEA awards Distinction Designations to campuses that demonstrate outstanding performance in specific areas. Only campuses with an overall rating of C or higher are eligible for distinctions.
There are seven distinction designations:
- Academic Achievement in Reading/ELA — Top performance in reading and English language arts assessments
- Academic Achievement in Mathematics — Top performance in mathematics assessments
- Academic Achievement in Science — Top performance in science assessments
- Academic Achievement in Social Studies — Top performance in social studies assessments
- Top 25% Comparative Academic Growth — Student growth rates in the top quartile compared to similar schools
- Top 25% Comparative Closing the Gaps — Equity performance in the top quartile compared to similar schools
- Postsecondary Readiness — Outstanding outcomes in college, career, and military readiness (high schools only)
When a school has “Earned” a distinction, it means that campus performed in the top tier for that indicator relative to comparable schools statewide. Distinctions are awarded at the campus level only (not districts) and must be re-earned each year.
Data Sources
All school and district data displayed on this site comes from publicly available TEA datasets. We process these official data files to present ratings, enrollment, and distinction information for Austin-area districts and campuses.
Key TEA resources for further reference:
- TEA Accountability Portal — Official accountability ratings and reports
- TEA Performance Reporting — Downloadable data files and district/campus snapshots
- Texas School Finder (txschools.gov) — Parent-friendly search tool for school ratings and details
Data is refreshed annually when TEA publishes updated accountability results, typically in August of each year.
How to Read a School's Rating
Understanding a school's TEA rating goes beyond looking at the overall letter grade. Here is a practical approach for parents evaluating schools in the Austin area:
- Start with the overall rating — The A-F letter grade gives you a quick snapshot. An A or B indicates strong performance; a C means the school meets minimum state expectations; a D or F signals areas of concern.
- Look at the domain breakdown — A school with a B overall might have an A in Academic Growth but a C in Closing the Gaps. The domain scores reveal where a school excels and where it struggles.
- Check Closing the Gaps — This domain tells you how well the school serves all student groups. If your child belongs to a historically underserved group, this score is especially relevant.
- Consider growth, not just achievement — The Academic Growth and School Progress domains show whether a school is improving over time. A school with a C in achievement but an A in growth may be a better environment than one with a static B.
- Review distinction designations — Distinctions highlight specific strengths. A school with multiple distinctions is excelling in measurable ways beyond the overall grade.
- Remember: ratings are one factor — TEA ratings measure standardized performance. They do not capture school culture, extracurriculars, teacher quality, or community engagement. Use ratings as a starting point, not the final word.