FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 15, 2018

Contact: Elizabeth Cox

254-215-2082 (office)
806-407-1958 (mobile)
elizabeth.cox@bisd.net

BELTON ISD SUPERINTENDENT COMMENTS ON A-F RATINGS

BELTON, Texas – Today the Texas Education Agency released the 2018 Accountability Ratings
which assign an A-F letter grade to the District based on three domains: student achievement,
school progress, and closing the gaps.

The rating information released by TEA does not assign letter grades to campuses but continues the
previous rating of “met standard” or “improvement required.” All Belton ISD campuses earned the
“met standard” rating, which is the highest rating available.

In response to the District’s new A-F rating, Belton ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Kincannon issued
the following statement:

“When I think of the quality of Belton ISD as one single letter grade, I can think of nothing less than
an A. Significant evidence could be collected to support such a rating. For example, Belton High
School’s back-to-back National Champion construction trades TeamWorks teams, over 100
Advanced Placement Scholars, continued Superior Financial Accountability achievement, and over
25% of students achieving mastery, the highest level of academic performance, on all STAAR tests
taken. Just last week, Belton ISD was ranked in the top 10% of all Texas school districts by
Niche.com, a national research organization who evaluated multiple data points.

TEA’s rating of a B does not accurately reflect the many successes of Belton ISD’s students and
teachers or the robust teaching and learning that occurs in our classrooms and diverse programs. It
does not consider citizenship or community service, skills that are an important part of our culture.
This new system limits its assessment of schools and districts to a very narrow set of measures,
consisting primarily of STAAR results.

As a team of highly skilled educators, we will identify our strengths and weaknesses using the new
accountability system and strive for the highest rating possible while continuing to understand and
communicate that this system does not define or limit us.”

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