State-issued grades may reduce schools to a single letter, but the real story of student success is written in opportunity, access, and community.

More than 10 years ago, I had a health scare. I had visited my primary care doctor for routine blood work, and a heart murmur was detected among other potential concerns related to my heart. My doctor sent me to a cardiologist for more tests, which ultimately resulted in a stress test, me running on a treadmill.

I am a lifelong runner and I was in my 40’s and relatively fit, but the stress test came back with additional red flags, especially given that my father had suffered a massive heart attack in his 50’s. 

I was scheduled for a heart catheterization. I recall feeling terrified as I was strapped into a stretcher and wheeled into the operating room. Like it sounds, the procedure involves sending a catheter inside to examine the heart with a small camera, and I was given a local anesthetic at the incision site near my hip.

As a result, I was wide awake as the doctor and nurses began to cackle and joke: “What is she doing here? Look at this gorgeous heart!”

I was first relieved, then annoyed at the out-of-pocket cost for what felt like an unnecessary and invasive procedure.

I share this story as an analogy for the release of the recent state standardized test scores, and the A-F grades issued to schools and districts. Today, I feel less angry about the series of false positives that led me to spend time, money, and sleepless nights more than a decade ago, because they did reassure me that my father’s genes had not caused my arteries to harden or my heart to malfunction.

What those first concerning tests prompted my doctors to do was to seek additional data. 

When the state released its A-F ratings this week, one of our campuses, CAST Lead, received a D rating. Just as I panicked after the stress test, it is hard not to think terrible thoughts about a rating like that! Unfortunately, our state system is not a simple one, so it is not easy for a parent trying to make sense of this rating to know when there is cause for alarm. This challenge is not unique to CAST Lead; it reflects a broader issue across our city and state, where the state’s system for grading schools often clouds the true picture of what is happening.

CAST Lead is located in East Central Independent School District, and the district is appealing the rating because some of the data was inaccurately inputted. If the state agrees, the rating will rise to a C.

But perhaps more important than that technicality, it is important to understand that the state bases its high school ratings significantly on College Career & Military Readiness (CCMR). This is also what CAST Schools believes is important, much more than STAAR standardized test scores. We believe students who are college and career ready are set up for success beyond high school, and we are proud of the high rates of college attendance and work experience, through internships, of CAST Lead graduates. Of that class, 88 percent enrolled in college. However, the state does not count these college readiness or graduation rates in favor of a school until 1 year after graduation. In other words, CAST Lead is a relatively new high school, so it will not fully benefit from its success preparing students for college and careers until next year, when I can say with certainty it will be a B or an A, like all of our other CAST high schools.

The state is doing a service to parents, and communities, by making data public. However, as consumers of this information, we must be careful before we jump to conclusions about what these letter grades actually mean. 

I am going to say something controversial. The same is true for positive scores – especially when you see a sudden rise, such as in Houston Independent School District following the state takeover. Sadly, a well-researched investigation by Texas Monthly found that one of the primary causes of those improved test scores was holding students back, and keeping them out of 8th grade algebra.

I wonder if parents might be better served by knowing: a) how many students at a school are reading on grade level, b) what sort of access there is to advanced coursework, c) internships and work opportunities at high school, d) what other skills – like teamwork, presentation – they might be learning, and e) opportunities for clubs, arts, sports and experiences outside the school. (The state legislature is supposed to be revisiting our system for grading schools during the special session, but this topic has been overshadowed by redistricting.)

While we may crave the instant certainty of an A, or an F, if students are judged by test scores alone, the student who does not read by third grade may be dogged by that label in a way that stymies their potential. A student with special needs who struggles with abstract math may never get the opportunity to demonstrate their math genius in a hands-on engineering class. The student who can’t pass the state’s “college readiness” test may be prevented from taking a college class in high school, one that would instill the confidence to succeed not just in high school, but beyond.

Like the false positives with my heart, I would encourage parents to resist forming conclusions about letter grades until they have had an opportunity to gather more information. Ask questions. Pay attention to the culture at your school, and whether students and teachers are excited to be there. Make sure that young people are given access to challenging course work, and experiences outside school. The letter grades may not be a direct parallel to a heart scare, but they are the equivalent of a blood pressure test when you visit your doctor – something to pay attention to, but never the full story.