Every year, the Texas Education Agency (T.E.A) gives out grades to each school district; and all the schools within that district; based on student achievement and school progress. Klein High School tied with Klein Oak for the highest high school grade in Klein ISD, at 89; Klein received an A in the student achievement domain; B’s in school progress and closing the gaps. 

“The A through F rating system came out a couple of years ago; we have improved,” Principal Jessica Haddox said. “As a high school principal, a lot of our schools are very comparable to each other.  We like to be competitive; in a healthy way and tying with Oak.

All the schools received their grades based on three domains; with student achievement being the first. This measures performances across all subjects for all students. College and career readiness, graduation rates, and military readiness are all factored into this domain. 

“A lot is going into the accountability system,” Haddox said”.  “A lot of it is the CCMR; the college and career military readiness; that’s one reason why we have the College and Career Center to help students prepare for the outside world. This system measures lots of that; it gives us targets to aim for in the future.” 

The school progress domain breaks down in two ways. The first is by looking to see students who grew within one year academically; by their Math and Reading STAAR results. The second way it’s looked at is of the achievement of all students relative to their district and campus.

“We always look for growth; I was so excited to see how much we grew,” Haddox said. “While we didn’t get an A, we made gains. I think schools are more than just a score.”

The last domain of the three is Closing the gap achievement; it is defined by how certain students in a given group, perform; comparing to the rest of the groups. Groups are put together by different factors determined by the state; like different races, special school programs, and socioeconomic statuses.

“We have amazing kids; and if it’s a college or career path, we have lots of opportunities and they take advantage of them,” Haddox said. “I’m not big into stressing the accountability system. I love to measure progress; we want to do what’s best for the kids. Supposing that people do the right thing; everything else will fall in place.”