‘A lot of growth’: Marshall ISD accountability ratings, STAAR scores show improvements

Published 10:45 pm Sunday, July 27, 2025

Multiple Marshall ISD campuses showed improvements in recently released 2024-25 accountability ratings, with the district as a whole rising from a D to a C rating.

Dr. NaTasha Crain, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, discussed preliminary accountability ratings as well as State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores to district trustees at a recent meeting.

Five campuses moved up letter grades.

The Texas Education Agency bases ratings on student achievement on state standardized tests (such as STAAR), graduation rates, and college, career, and military readiness outcomes.

Marshall ISD campus ratings for 2024-25 are:

David Crockett Elementary School remained an F.
Sam Houston Elementary School remained an A.
William B. Travis Elementary School went from a D to a B.
Price T. Young Fine Arts Academy improved from an F to a C.
Marshall Junior High School remained a C.
Marshall Early Graduation School improved from an F to a C.
Marshall High School changed from a D to a C.

“Based on these ratings, we’ll use this data to continue the plan to celebrate and provide targeted support,” Crain said.

Trustees asked principals from William B. Travis and Price T. Young how they improved their ratings.

Tamekia Johnson of William B. Travis said after receiving the D for 2023-24, she was determined to improve the school, adding that she regularly spent time in the classrooms.

“But the biggest thing that we continued was taking what worked and taking it to the next level when it came to aggressive monitoring and intensive tier one instruction,” she said.

Johnson described how she and her instructional coaches would go into classrooms and sometimes ended up doing the teaching.

“I will tell you, for my administrative team, there’s so many things we didn’t agree on,” Johnson said. “But the one thing that’s consistent was the final decision was always what is in the best interests of the kids,” she said. “That’s it.”

Blake Langley of Price T. Young contributed his school’s improvement to constantly analyzing and adapting to changes with the right people in place.

“We got the right people who were in the right places at the beginning of the year,” he said.

STAAR scores

Crain also shared data from district STAAR scores for the past three years:

Third-grade math increased by six points
Fifth-grade math increased by nine points
Fifth-grade reading increased by nine points
Fifth-grade science increased by 22 points
Sixth-grade math increased by four points
U.S. history increased by three points

“We had a lot of growth this year, so … kudos to everyone who has moved through all of those letter grades, kudos to our principals for doing the work, and making sure that our students are set up for success,” Crain said. “ So we’re going to continue with that Maverick momentum.”