The Texas Educations Agency’s (TEA) Accountability ratings were released on August 1 and the Richardson Independent School District (RISD) showed improvement in the ratings. The district’s overall rating remained at “Recognized” while the number of schools rated as “Exemplary” in the district increased. In the eleven schools of the Plano Independent School District (PISD) that cover parts of Richardson, an upward improvement was seen.

Of the RISD’s 56 campuses 27 were rated Exemplary, 19 were Recognized, 7 were Academically Acceptable, and none were Academically Unacceptable. Of the PISD’s 11 campuses that cover parts of Richardson, 3 were rated Exemplary, 4 were Recognized, 4 were Academically Acceptable and none were Academically Unacceptable.

Compared to the previous year the Richardson ISD 15 new schools moved to the Exemplary category. That represents about 25% of all RISD campuses. Two of the eleven Plano ISD campuses that cover parts of Richardson moved into better performing categories.

The only downside of the RISD ratings was the fact that all RISD high schools are rated Academically Acceptable. JJ Pearce High School was Recognized the previous year but slipped to Academically Acceptable this year.

We contacted RISD Superintendent Dr. David Simmons via e-mail and he stated, “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. What is very encouraging is that secondary TAKS performance districtwide continues to improve, and we are headed in the right direction.”

The RISD’s success -- when it has a diverse campus makeup that commonly might not be thought of as producing success -- was noticed by the Dallas Morning News on July 28.

The News editorial stated, “Superintendents running school districts in Plano, Frisco and McKinney may want to pay attention to what's happening on campuses in nearby Richardson…. The Texas Education Agency also reports that nearly half of Richardson's students qualify as economically disadvantaged….Large numbers of poor children can challenge educators, but schools in the Richardson ISD are going forward at pretty close to full speed…. The state has awarded Richardson its second highest-ranking the last two years. That's a feat for a diverse district and requires large numbers of students progressing in math, science, reading, language and social studies.”

Much has been discussed in the press about “exceptions” that districts could use to boost their ratings. Our sources told us that RISD did not use any exceptions. We were not able to determine if PISD used any of these exceptions for the schools that overlap Richardson.

Both districts saw improvements, and a breakdown of the districts is shown below:

Richardson ISD

RATING	Number in 2007	Number in 2008
EXEMPLARY	12	27
RECOGNIZED	31	19
ACADEMICALLY ACCEPTABLE	10	7
ACADEMICALLY UNACCEPTABLE	0	0
NOT RATED: OTHER	3	3
TOTAL	56	56

Plano ISD (attendance areas covering Richardson only)

RATING	Number in 2007	Number in 2008
EXEMPLARY	2	3
RECOGNIZED	3	4
ACADEMICALLY ACCEPTABLE	6	4
ACADEMICALLY UNACCEPTABLE	0	0
NOT RATED: OTHER	0	0
TOTAL	11	11

Richardson ISD by Individual School

School	2007 Rating	2008 Rating
Lake Highlands High School	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Richardson High School	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Pearce High School	Recognized	Academically Acceptable
Berkner High School	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Christa Mcauliffe Learning Cen	Not Rated: Other	Not Rated: Other
P A S S Learning Ctr	Not Rated: Other	Not Rated: Other
Lake Highlands Jr High	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Richardson West Jr High	Recognized	Recognized
Richardson North Jr High	Academically Acceptable	Recognized
Forest Meadow Jr High	Academically Acceptable	Recognized
Westwood Jr High	Recognized	Recognized
Liberty Jr High	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Apollo Jr High	Recognized	Recognized
Parkhill Jr High	Recognized	Recognized
Lake Highlands Freshman Center	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Arapaho Classical Magnet	Recognized	Recognized
Canyon Creek El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Dover El	Recognized	Recognized
Greenwood Hills El	Recognized	Recognized
Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet	Recognized	Recognized
O Henry El	Recognized	Exemplary
Lake Highlands El	Recognized	Recognized
Mohawk El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Northrich El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Northwood Hills El	Recognized	Exemplary
Richardson Heights El	Recognized	Exemplary
Richardson Terrace El	Recognized	Exemplary
Spring Valley El	Academically Acceptable	Exemplary
Stults Road El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Mark Twain El	Recognized	Recognized
Wallace El	Exemplary	Exemplary
White Rock El	Recognized	Exemplary
Spring Creek El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Dobie Pri	Not Rated: Other	Not Rated: Other
Forestridge El	Recognized	Exemplary
Northlake El	Recognized	Recognized
Bowie El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Prairie Creek El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Springridge El	Recognized	Exemplary
Prestonwood El	Recognized	Exemplary
Skyview El	Recognized	Exemplary
Dartmouth El	Recognized	Exemplary
Brentfield El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Jess Harben El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Richland El	Recognized	Recognized
Yale El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Moss Haven El	Recognized	Exemplary
Big Springs El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Merriman Park El	Recognized	Exemplary
Aikin El	Recognized	Exemplary
Risd Acad	Recognized	Recognized
Math/Science/Tech Magnet	Recognized	Exemplary
Forest Lane Academy	Academically Acceptable	Recognized
Audelia Creek Elementary	Recognized	Recognized
Carolyn G Bukhair El	Recognized	Recognized
Thurgood Marshall El	Recognized	Recognized

Plano ISD by individual school (attendance areas covering Richardson only)

School	2007 Rating	2008 Rating
Plano Sr High School	Recognized	Recognized
Williams High School	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Vines High School	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Plano East Sr High School	Academically Acceptable	Recognized
Bowman Middle	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Wilson Middle	Academically Acceptable	Academically Acceptable
Murphy Middle School	Recognized	Exemplary
Mendenhall El	Academically Acceptable	Recognized
Aldridge El	Recognized	Recognized
Miller El	Exemplary	Exemplary
Stinson Elementary	Exemplary	Exemplary