Austin ISD high school students met or exceeded the state average passing rates on end-of-course State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests administered in spring 2014, according to preliminary statewide results released by the Texas Education Agency.

To graduate from high school in Texas, students are required to pass five end-of-course examinations: Algebra I, English I, English II, biology and U.S. history. In 2013, House Bill 5 lowered the number of standardized tests students are required to pass from 15 to 5.

Preliminary AISD results

According to AISD, preliminary results showed the district's students had a passing rate of 72 percent on the spring 2014 English I examination, the same as the statewide rate. Students had a passing rate of 76 percent on the English II exam, higher than the statewide rate of 73 percent. AISD has pointed out that this spring marked the implementation of combined writing and reading exams for English I and English II.

Results for first-time testers showed AISD students posted the highest passing rate in biology, as AISD's 96 percent passing rate was 3 percentage points higher than the statewide passing rate, according to the district.

In U.S. history, AISD students passed at a rate of 93 percent compared with 92 percent for the state. In algebra I, AISD's passing rate of 88 percent was 2 percentage points above the statewide rate.

Interim Superintendent Paul Cruz said in a June 6 news release that the results are a testament to hard work by students, teachers and principals.

"Having a system to review individual student progress and design specific interventions for each student is essential to realize student growth," Cruz said. "We look forward to analyzing all of the data to identify focus areas by content or student groups. AISD is committed to improving outcomes for all students."

More information is available at www.austinisd.org/staar.