(KWES) - The Texas Education Agency released it's "A through F" ratings for school districts and it doesn't look good for many west Texas schools.
Midland, Ector County and Big Spring school districts were all rated below average. The ratings are broken down into four categories.
The first category is student achievement, used to determine how ready students are for a post-secondary setting like trade school, community college or a university. Midland ISD is ranked a D, Ector County ISD and Big Spring ISD were both given an F.
The second category is student progress, here the progress from the previous year's STAAR test is tracked. MISD and BSISD were both given a C, ECISD was given a D.
Closing performance gaps, this category examines how well the campuses are doing helping students that aren't well off economically. All three school districts were given an F.
The final category is post-secondary readiness; this is based on the percentage of students graduating with a higher level graduation plan. MISD was given an F, both ECISD and BSISD were given a D.
We did reach out to all three school districts. Both Big Spring and Ector County ISD said they strongly disagree with the "A through F" ratings and do not want it to discourage students, staff and the community. Midland ISD hasn't returned our call.
There are already about 150 Texas school districts asking the state to do away with the ratings. Ector County ISD has a meeting next week and will talk about possibly joining those schools.
