A new interactive tool is now available for San Antonians who want to know where school quality is improving, where challenges persist, and how performance is changing over time.
The San Antonio School Quality Explorer, designed by City Education Partners, informs families, educators, and civic leaders about how local public schools are measuring up to their goals and identifies potential for improvement in the future. The launch comes as newly released 2026 accountability ratings show meaningful progress across San Antonio. Half of San Antonio students now attend an A- or B-rated school, up from 42% last year, while the share attending D- or F-rated schools fell from 26% to 20%.
“The big story this year is momentum: more campuses are earning A and B ratings, fewer are earning F ratings, and several schools and systems made major jumps,” said Dalia Flores Contreras, CEO of City Education Partners. “The next frontier is building on that progress so stronger ratings translate into more students truly mastering grade-level work.”
An evolving picture of school quality
Texas’ A–F accountability ratings provide an important measure of school performance, including student achievement, growth, and how schools are closing gaps. But a single letter grade does not tell the full story. The San Antonio School Quality Explorer was built to help users see the larger picture. Through the tool, San Antonians can:
Search for an individual school, school operator, City Council district, or ZIP codeFollow fluctuations in the share of students attending A/B and D/F schoolsCompare trends in school districts and city locationsExplore differences across City Council districts, grade levels, and areas inside and outside Loop 410View an individual school’s rating history to see whether performance is improving, declining, or remaining consistent.
The Explorer is meant to be an ongoing resource, not a one-time report, and will be updated as new school-quality data become available.
Learning, growing, and achieving in San Antonio and beyond
As more schools in San Antonio rise into the A/B bracket, students in the city have more opportunities to attend highly ranked schools. That is shrinking the gap between San Antonio and the state as a whole. The difference between San Antonio and Texas, in terms of the share of students attending A- or B-rated schools, now stands at 15 percentage points, after widening to 20 points during the previous two years.
The latest ratings also show that significant improvement can happen quickly. Kirby Middle in Judson ISD and Mead Elementary in Northside ISD each moved from an F to a B rating in one year. Other schools and systems are showing positive movement as well, giving San Antonio important examples to showcase what changed, what worked, and which improvements can be sustained.
“The most hopeful thing in this year’s data is that school performance is not fixed. We have campuses moving from F to B and systems making major gains in a single year. That tells us improvement is possible. The challenge is understanding what changed and making those results far more common,” Flores Contreras said.
A commitment to consistently great schools
The recent gains are meaningful, but stronger ratings are not the finish line. An A or B rating signals that a school is meeting or exceeding expectations within Texas’ accountability system. It does not necessarily mean every student is reading or doing math on grade level. For City Education Partners, the next frontier is understanding whether stronger school ratings are translating into deeper student learning for more children and what San Antonio can learn from schools succeeding at both.
The Explorer is intended to help move that conversation forward by making it easier to ask:
Where is progress taking hold?What is driving it?Where do challenges remain?What can we learn from schools and systems changing trajectories for students?
City Education Partners will continue analyzing the data to identify schools and systems showing sustained growth, those moving in a negative direction, and places where chronic underperformance continues.
Ready to follow along with the progress? Get an in-depth analysis of schools in your area with the San Antonio School Quality Explorer here!
About City Education Partners
This article is sponsored by City Education Partners, which is committed to a future where every child in San Antonio attends a school that prepares them to powerfully engage with life. Their mission is to cultivate a vibrant educational ecosystem across San Antonio, ensuring every child in every zip code thrives through great schools, talented teachers and leaders, and powerful advocacy.