Bellaire received an A rating from the Texas Education Agency for the first time on Aug. 16 for the 2025-26 school year.
Based on performance data from the previous school year, the school’s A rating applies to the 2025-26 accountability cycle. The school earned all seven distinctions from the TEA in reading and language arts, mathematics, science and social studies, as well as for being in the top 25% for academic growth, post-secondary readiness and closing achievement gaps.
In previous years, the school’s scores ranged from an 81 to 89, which meant that it fell anywhere from a low B to a high B rating. This year, the school achieved a score of 92, receiving an average of an A in all three student accountability domains: student achievement, student growth and closing achievement gaps among demographic groups.
“We’re really proud about our ranking,” Principal Michael Niggli said. “We were kind of jumping through the roof, and the district was really happy for us. I got a lot of phone calls from people in the West Division, and they were all really happy for our school, students and teachers.”
This marked the first year that Bellaire has received an A under the TEA’s A-F grading system, which has been in place for about eight years.
“One of the big changes we saw the last couple years was in the career and technology (CTE) metrics,” Niggli said. “The TEA made some adjustments to that scoring and made it a little bit more difficult for high schools. Now, we’ve had a good two years to adjust to that, and I think we’ve done really well with that.”
Niggli said the rating reflects efforts of teachers, administrators and students all working together.
“Our teachers have been making a lot of adjustments and pivots in their instruction,” Niggli said. “Veteran teachers have helped new teachers acclimate to the Bellaire culture and understand the needs of students so they can be successful.”
The school’s focus for the upcoming year is to continue supporting the student body and maintaining a strong academic performance by working to maintain all seven TEA distinctions, according to Niggli.
“We did a tremendous job of closing the gaps last year and the demographic gaps in instruction, and that is still a big focus for us this year,” Niggli said. “We want to lift all student demographic groups up and help them perform as highly as they can. This is a result of huge efforts from teachers, administrators and counselors.”
