Texas Education Agency Releases 'Title I Reward School' List

AUSTIN, TX -- Texas Education Agency officials identified 300 so-called "Title I Reward Schools," a designation connoting high levels of academic achievement or progress among the state's schools with predominant levels of low-income students.

Title I schools are defined as campuses with a student population of at least 40 percent low-income. In making the list, schools are identified as being high-performing and/or high-progress based on statewide reading and mathematics assessments under the State Accountability System in the 2014-15 school year and graduation rates, TEA officials explained in a press release.

A high-performing reward school is identified as a Title I school with distinctions based on reading and math performance, as well as the highest graduation rates at the high school level. For 2015-2016, TEA has identified 160 Texas campuses as high-performing.

School districts and charters with more than one campus identified as high-performing include were:

• Amarillo ISD (3);
• Brownsville ISD (2);
• Carroll ISD (4);
• Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD (3);
• Dallas ISD (14);
• Edinburg CISD (9);
• El Paso ISD (5);
• Fort Worth ISD (2);
• Garland ISD (4);
• Houston ISD (13);
• IDEA Public Schools (4);
• KIPP Inc. Charter (2);
• Los Fresnos CISD (3);
• Malakoff ISD (2);
• Sharyland ISD (4);
• Socorro ISD (5);
• Uplift Education-Summit International (2);
• Valley View ISD (3);
• Ysleta ISD (2).

A high-progress reward school is identified as a Title I school in the top 25 percent in annual improvement and/or a school in the top 25 percent of those demonstrating ability to close performance gaps (based on state accountability system safeguards in the 2014-2015 school year), officials noted. For 2015-2016, TEA has identified 140 Texas campuses as high-progress.

School districts and charters with more than one campus identified as high-progress include:

• Alief ISD (2);
• Amarillo ISD (3);
• Brownsville ISD (2);
• Carroll ISD (2);
• Carrollton-Farmers Branch (2);
• Conroe ISD (2);
• Dallas ISD (10);
• Edinburg CISD (8);
• El Paso ISD (6);
• Fort Worth ISD (3);
• Garland ISD (4);
• Houston Gateway Academy Inc. (3);
• Houston ISD (13);
• IDEA Public Schools (4);
• KIPP Inc. Charter (2);
• Los Fresnos CISD (2);
• San Antonio ISD (2);
• Sharyland ISD (3);
• Socorro ISD (3);
• Valley View ISD (2);
• Ysleta ISD (3).

The identification of high-performing and/or high-progress Title I schools is a part of the state’s conditional waiver from the U.S. Department of Education for specific provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (commonly known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), TEA officials added.

For the full list of 2015-16 high-progress and high-performing schools (school districts and campus names)

click here.

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