Los Fresnos School District Gets “A” on TEA Score

by Tony Vindell/LFN

Los Fresnos Independent School District has received an A score from the Texas Education Agency Public School Accountability System ratings, TEA announced early this month.

That put the district into an elite group as 116 such entities got the distinction out of more than a 1,000 districts statewide.

“We are delighted for this achievement,” Gonzalo Salazar, LFCISD superintendent, said. “We all have been working toward this level of performance – the staff, the principals and everybody else.”

But achieving the highest score doesn’t mean they are done, he said.

Salazar said there still is room for improvement and want to take the district farther up the educational ladder.

This is the first time that TEA uses the A to F score system and it’s based largely on the results of the 2018 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and the End-of-Course (EOC) exams.

Up to last year, TEA gave school district a “Met Standard” or “Improvement Required,” rating .

The new rating is based on three components – student achievement, school progress, and closing the achievement gaps.

“This is just one metric of the overall Los Fresnos academic experience, and we are extremely proud to see our students excelling on this measure as well,” Salazar said in a statement. “An ‘A’ rating validates the dedication of staff members who understand what is at stake and the hard work of students who have a desire to achieve their full potential.”

This places Los Fresnos CISD among four districts in Texas to sustain this level of student performance for five consecutive years. The coveted postsecondary readiness distinction considers factors such as graduation rates, ACT/SAT participation and performance, Career and Technical Education graduates and dual-credit course completion rates.

Salazar has been the district’s boss for the last 13 years.

He oversees a 14 campus district with1200 employees, including 760 teachers and an annual budget of $95 million.

“This distinction means that we are delivering on our mission of providing a quality educational experience that results in the development of socially responsible lifelong learners,” Salazar said. “Commencement ceremonies are much more meaningful as diplomas come with added value. The high school diploma our students receive is symbolic of students meeting the requirements for graduation from high school and now it also serves as evidence that our students well equipped with college, career, and military readiness.”

Los Fresnos CISD has traditionally been among the top-performing districts in the Region One Education Service Center with students consistently exceeding regional and state averages in all areas including reading, mathematics, writing, science and social studies in grades 3 through 8.