Molly May, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment, and Catheryn Chairez, director of assessment and accountability, provided the board of trustees with key items from the report during the regular board meeting Feb. 11.
Terms to know
Per agenda documents, TEA uses three levels to indicate a student’s STAAR performance.
- Approaches grade level: knowledge of course content may be missing critical elements, and student could need additional support
- Meets grade level: student shows strong knowledge of course content and is prepared to progress to the next grade level
- Masters grade level: student shows mastery of the course and is on track for college and/or career
Chairez said there was a slight decrease in third and fourth grade “meets grade level” math STAAR scores compared to 2022-23, with 74% in third grade and 80% in fourth grade achieving the “meets” level last year.
Fifth grade students are able to take an accelerated math course through Math 5/6, Chairez said, which covers fifth and sixth grade math.
“Many of our students skip over that sixth grade [math course], so that sixth grade math level is not representative of the number of students who are taking it,” Chairez said. “You have a smaller portion [of students] who are actually taking that test.”
End-of-course exams in five subject areas are given to high school students, but about half of EISD middle school students take Algebra I, Chairez said.
Additionally, Westlake High School's academic dean is working with English I and English II teams to increase the masters level.
What else?
The TAPR also details attendance data; however, the latest data available is from the 2022-23 school year.
EISD attendance was slightly up in 2022-23 compared to 2021-22, from 95% to 95.3%. Rates were reported as 97.7% in 2020-21, but May said this data includes state funding EISD received for lower enrollment and attendance during COVID-19.
"[95%] seems to be where we're tracking," May said.
Chronic absenteeism in EISD was a concern brought up following last year's TAPR, but May said the district was able to lower the chronic absenteeism rate between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Last semester, the district lost about $1.24 million in funding due to absences.
Something to note
Chairez said the district uses a variety of progress monitoring tools throughout the year to collect realtime data, which allows officials to change the course of instruction based on student needs, since the TAPR does not reflect the latest district data.
