BEAUMONT, Texas — Members of the Beaumont Independent School District school board have a clearer vision of how to improve the district's accountability score.
The TEA released the 2021-2022 school year accountability ratings in August 2022. That was the first year accountability rating have been given since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas schools are rated on an “A through F” scale based on three criteria: students' achievements, school progress and closing the gaps.
Districts that receive an overall rating below 70% are not given a “D” or “F." Their scores are listed as “not rated.”
Beaumont ISD was “not rated” because the district scored a 67.
Superintendent Dr. Shannon Allen says the district is working hard to turn things around.
Dr. Allen believes COVID-19, low attendance and distractions like cell phones and social media are key factors to the district's score.
But, Dr. Allen says she's already rolled out a five-year program to get ahead of the curve.
"When you don't meet the goal the way you wanted to meet the goal how do you feel your disappointed your hurt," Dr. Allen previously told 12News.
Dr. Allen's associate, Superintendent Dr. Anita Frank shared their improvement plan at Thursday's meeting.
"We're coaching our teachers, our campus have reading coaches and math coaches," Dr. Allen previously said.
Dr. Allen and her team are committed to a turnaround and they're already seeing results.
"We want to increase the number of A and B-rated campuses within the district from 2 to 8 was our goal by 2025 based on last year's accountability performance, we exceeded that goal," she said.
One of the campuses district officials have seen improvement in is Martin Elementary.
"We implemented a redesign there to, you know, change the curriculum," Dr. Allen said. "We added some different supports to the campus. Martin is an example of one of the campuses that in the previous year was an "F-rated" school, but went to a "B-rated" school."
But Dr. Allen says, students have to do their part, which means being in school regularly.
"We are making progress. We are improving. We are analyzing our campus data. We are making certain that we are putting in place the supports to make sure that our students perform," she said.