16 August . 2019
Paetow High School earns 6 Distinction Designations
Despite not having a senior class during the evaluation period, Paetow High School has received the highest B rating possible from the Texas Education Agency, and has received six of the TEA’s seven available Distinction Designations.
Part of the highly regarded Katy Independent School District serving Elyson, Paetow High School received 89 points in the TEA’s first letter grade ratings for Texas public schools, just one point shy of earning an A rating.
Paetow High School opened in 2017 with freshman (9th grade) and sophomore (10th grade) levels only. An 11th grade junior level was added in 2018, and Paetow began the 2019-2020 academic year with its inaugural 12th grade senior class.
Paetow Principal Mindy Dickerson explained that while the TEA did not penalize the school for not having upper grade levels, it missed out on the contributions that junior and senior level students would have undoubtedly made to the school’s first rating.
“Our prediction of earning an A rating shifted slightly with some last-minute calculations, and we received an 89 instead of the 90 we anticipated,” she said. “We are still very happy with the B rating, and we received six out of seven possible Distinction Designations.”
Distinction Designations measure how a school performs against all other campuses in a comparison group of 40 other campuses.
Paetow earned Distinction Designations for:
- English Language Arts/Reading
- Science
- Social Studies
- Comparative Academic Growth
- Postsecondary Readiness
- Comparative Closing the Gaps
Click here to view TEA ratings for all Texas schools in their searchable database.
Elyson recently hosted a back-to-school lunch for the Paetow staff.
“We’ve been excited about Paetow and our other schools since day one, when Katy ISD opened its K-12 tri-campus just a few miles from Elyson,” said Heather Gustafson, marketing director for Newland. “For this school year, it’s wonderful to see Paetow start their first senior class, and next spring they will have their first prom.”
The two other Katy ISD campuses serving Elyson, Bethke Elementary School and Stockdick Junior High School, both earned B ratings in the new TEA ratings. Katy ISD received an overall district rating of A from the TEA.
Starting in August, 2020, Elyson students will attend a brand-new Katy ISD elementary school now under construction in the community.
Katy ISD has also been recognized as the No. 1 Best School District in the Houston Area by Niche, with an overall grade of A+. Katy ISD also received A and A+ scores from Niche for Academics, Teachers, Clubs & Activities, Diversity and College Prep.
Learn more about Elyson’s schools.