Pflugerville ISD was a mostly virtual district during the 2020-21 school year, and an Oct. 21 presentation from Chief Academic and Innovation Officer Brandy Baker showed that in most cases district performance was similar to statewide STAAR scoring.
According to TEA figures, state districts with fewer than 25% in person attendance for most of the 2020-21 school year saw 9% increase in students not meeting expectations in reading and a 32% increase in students not meeting expectations for math compared against the 2018-19 school year.
For districts with more than 75% in person attendance for the 2020-21 school year, there was only a 1% increase in students not meeting expectations for STAAR test for reading and a 9% increase for math compared against the 2018-19 school year.
When broken down by socioeconomic status, figures show economically disadvantaged students performed even lower for reading and math within both the mostly virtual and mostly in person districts, and Baker said PfISD was also similar to state figures in that regard.
However, Baker said while she is not excited about the TEA data, she is highly encouraged by new district numbers showing current student performance numbers are rising.
"I am happy about what is happening for our kids," she said. "We are pretty much above pre-COVID[-19] numbers in almost every area."
Baker cited as one example a 20% increase in performance for seventh grade mathematics districtwide this school year versus last school year.
Baker said she would come back to the district in November to further unpack district data on student performance through categories including race, special programming and economic status.
"This is the first time that I was just joyful for our students and our teachers [since the COVID-19 pandemic began]," Baker said.
Following her presentation, the school board commended Baker and district teachers for their hard work.
"I appreciate you looking at this and how we turned the ship around, so to speak," Superintendent Douglas Killian said.
