All Cass County schools receive high marks

Shawn Larson

All seven Cass County Schools received a B or better for this year’s state of Texas Accountability rating. According to MyTexasPublic-Schools.com, “Accountability ratings are given to public schools in Texas based on a state-created accountability system. The accountability system provides districts with an A-F rating.

“Currently, Texas evaluates under three domains: Student achievement (based on student test scores and college and career readiness); School progress (based on comparing student test score improvement over time and with similarly situated students); and closing the gaps (based on the achievement rates of certain subgroups of students).

The A-F rating is tied to typical A-F grade percentages (90% is an A, 80% is a B, etc.), but the grade percentages come from a complicated system that relies mainly on standardized test scores. Although the A-F rating can provide some basic information, schools and districts have many strengths that a simple letter grade may fail to capture.”

Because of COVID, there were no rankings in 2020 and 2021. This year, all Cass County schools have some bragging rights compared to other schools in the state. In 2022, statewide, 27.9% of 8,451 schools evaluated received an A rating. Another 46.1% received a B, 19.4% received a rating of C and 6.7% received. Schools receiving less than C were not given a grade at all. Also, some alternative education programs and treatment facilities were not rated. Though true, many schools in the state received a B ranking. All of the area schools that did receive a “B”, received a high “B”.

Based on the ratings, residents can confidently pat their school officials and teachers on the back. Every school in the county had either an “A” rating or was only a point or so from having an “A” rating. This year McLeod and Bloomburg took home the highest with a 92-A. Hughes Springs and Queen City both had a 90-A. Atlanta and Linden- Kildare both had an 89-B. Avinger had an 87-B. Linden-Kildare showed a huge turnaround since 2019 for jumping from a low “C” rating to a high B; nearly an “A”.

Cass County Judge, Travis Ransom, when asked, issued congratulations for a job well done to the area schools. “Congratulations to all of our Cass County School Districts and students. Cass county has great teachers, faculty, and staff that are investing in our collective future every day in the lessons and values they instill in the next generation.”