General Information

Q: Is this a new report? I've never heard of the TAPR.

A: No. The TAPR was previously known as the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report. Those reports were published from 1990-91 to 2011-12. Archived AEIS reports may be found at the AEIS Archive.

Q: Why did the name change?

A: Due to changes in legislation, the performance report formerly known as the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report is now the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR).

Q: What is the difference between the TAPR and the School Report Card?

A: The School Report Card contains a small subset of the information provided on the TAPR. The School Report Cards for 2013-14 will be published in mid-December 2014.

Q: Where is the financial section of the report? The AEIS had a financial section with information on revenues and expenditures.

A: The financial section of these reports is now created by the Division of School Finance at TEA. When viewing a TAPR online, you will see a link to PEIMS District Financial Budget Reports and PEIMS District Financial Actual Reports at the end of the TAPR. This will link directly to the finance information for that school or district.

The website for all financial reports is http://www.tea.state.tx.us/financialstandardreports/.

Q: When are the TAPRs published each year?

A: The Texas Academic Performance Reports are produced and posted online in the fall of each year.

Q: Do these reports exist for private schools?

A: No, Texas Academic Performance Reports are produced only for public schools. The Texas Education Agency receives very little information from private schools. For information on those schools contact the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission  at (903) 643-8770.

Q: Does TEA rank schools based on performance?

A: The Texas Education Agency does not rank-order schools or districts. We do assign accountability ratings to each school and district based on their performance. For more information about ratings, see the Accountability website.

For Parents

Q: We are moving to Texas and want to find the best school for our kids. Can you help?

A: The Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR) provide a great deal of performance information about every public school and district in the state. These reports also provide extensive profile information about students, staff, and programs.

We recommend that you narrow your search to neighborhoods you like and then print reports for the schools there. Once you have this background information we suggest that you contact the principal and/or counselor of each school to get a more complete picture of the school. For names and addresses, see the Texas Education Directory.

Q: I'd like to find a school district on a map. Do you have a map to districts?

A: Yes. TEA's School District Locator provides a map of Texas that you can use for finding a specific district. Also, some internet mapping services will locate schools or districts according to zip code or city name.

Q: How do Texas schools compare to schools in other states?

A: The Texas Education Agency does not have information to report about other states. However, there are several sites that do provide reports comparing different states' performance. Among them are the National Center for Education Statistics (which produces the Nation's Report Card), the National Education Association (which produces Rankings & Estimates), and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

For Educators and Researchers

Q: What are the TAPR publication requirements for districts?

A: Requirements for dissemination of the TAPR are spelled out in the TAPR Guidelines.

Q: Are charter districts required to follow the TAPR Guidelines?

A: Yes, charter districts are required to follow the same requirements as other districts.

Q: The Average SAT Score jumped from 976 on the 2011-12 AEIS reports to 1422 on the 2012-13 TAPR for the state. How is that possible?

A: The Average SAT Score now includes performance on the Writing portion of the SAT. The maximum number of points a student can achieve on the SAT is 2400. Prior to this year, when only the Critical Reading and Mathematics portions of the SAT were included in the measure, the maximum was 1600.

Q: How are students tested in accelerated grades included in the percent passing STAAR by grade for each subject area?

A: The TAPR shows the percent of students who passed the grade level test regardless of enrolled grade level. For example, a student enrolled in the third grade who has received accelerated instruction in mathematics may take the STAAR grade 3 reading test and grade 4 mathematics test.  In this case, the reading test results are reported in the STAAR percent at Phase-in Satisfactory Standard or Above for grade 3 reading and the mathematics results are reported in the STAAR percent at Phase-in Satisfactory Standard or Above for grade 4 mathematics.

Q: I just tried to run a report and got an "ERROR" or "TIMEOUT" message.

A: On occasion, our server experiences problems, or may be down briefly for upgrades. Please try to run your report again later. This problem will also result if you try running a report when we are receiving an overwhelming number of hits, such as when accountability ratings are released. At times like this we get hundreds of thousands of hits a day. Please be patient and try back later. If the problem persists, you may contact us at performance.reporting@tea.state.tx.us.

Performance Reporting