The Texas Education Agency grades campuses according to the percentage of students who pass the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills tests. Those scores are then combined with socioeconomic factors, attendance and dropout rates. If it's preparation for college, you may get one answer. If it is TAAS performance, you may get another. At first glance, TAAS success may be more closely related to campus size than academic excellence.
Smaller campuses are more likely to gain high ratings than large campuses.
Yes, maybe and no, say educators and others. TAAS and college entrance exams should not be compared, said DeEtta Culbertson, a spokeswoman at the TEA in Austin. TAAS is taken by all students. It's not that they don't want to, but smaller schools can't offer as much in that way. You can see why the larger schools seem to do better.