Forty-six percent of Austin ISD ninth grade students failed the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness end-of-course, or EOC, writing exam, according to the district, and will have to attend a so-called EOC Prep Camp at either Anderson or Bowie high schools from June 12–29.

Performance on the English I writing test was the lowest of the five STAAR subjects, in part because the Texas Education Agency made the passing standard 65 percent or more of questions answered correctly versus the 34 percent passing standard for the other tests, according to a presentation given to the board of trustees June 11

Next year, passing standards will be raised.

AISD students performed best in biology with an 84 percent passing rate, followed by an 83 percent passing rate in algebra I. Seventy-eight percent of students passed world geography, and 69 percent passed reading. The passing standard for reading was also 65 percent.

Anderson High School Principal Donna Houser said 160 students are signed up to attend the camp at Anderson, which runs from 9:15 a.m.–1:45 p.m. The camp curriculum is administered online and was created by Pearson, the company that wrote the STAAR tests.

Camp attendees will retake in July the tests they did not pass.

AISD's results are in line with statewide performance, released by TEA last week. In those, 87 percent of students passed biology, 83 percent passed algebra I, 81 percent passed world geography, 68 percent passed reading and slightly more than half passed the writing exam.

District accountability ratings will not be derived from STAAR results until the next school year.