The state and districts saw little improvement in the rates of students approaching grade level—which is considered passing—in reading and math between the spring 2023 and spring 2024 administrations of the STAAR test.
Statewide, students are still struggling with their math scores. The decrease in math proficiency can be attributed to learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a June 14 news release from the Texas Education Agency.
“The STAAR is only one of the data points in our data-driven decision-making process,” said Shiela Shiver, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD chief academic officer. “While GCISD students outperform state averages on the STAAR in all subjects and at all grade levels, our instruction is aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. The continuous improvement process uses a variety of data sources to identify focus areas. Our focus is not on scores, but rather on how to help students with their individual progress and growth.”
CISD continues to have some of the highest test scores across the state results in reading and math.
Between the six grade levels, the lower score for CISD was 92% in seventh-grade math. The other passage rates for math ranged from 95-98%. Reading ranged from 95-99%, the highest being fourth-grade reading.
Fourth- and sixth-grade reading each saw a 1% bump in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the data.
CISD's communications department did not provide a comment for the story about the STAAR results.
An email said the board of education has not been presented with the outcomes and comments would not be available until after that happens. A date for that presentation to the board has not been set yet, according to district officials.
A closer look
GCISD continues to be above the state average in both reading and math in grades third through eighth.
The data shows that GCISD, like CISD, had increases in only two grade levels.
For GCISD, it came in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math.
GCISD reading passage stayed the same in third, went up in fourth and saw a 1% decrease in sixth and eighth grade.
Math was a subject that GCISD saw a decrease in five of the six grade levels test, according to the data. The decreases ranged from 1-7%.
“GCISD engages in ongoing continuous improvement,” Shiver said. “As student results from a variety of sources become available throughout the year, including STAAR, we use it to inform our instructional decisions and we update our board as those results become available. Throughout the year, our data is reported in the context of our board goals in monthly strategic scorecard presentations in our public board meetings.”
What you need to know
The STAAR was redesigned in 2023, and there were new changes implemented in how tests were graded in 2024. In 2019, House Bill 3906 mandated a redesign of the state's standardized test, which was administered online from that point. The new test also emphasized writing skills and a larger variety of questions, according to the Texas Education Agency’s website.
The 2024 tests were graded almost exclusively by computers, which had human oversight, in an effort by the state to save money and make the grading system more efficient, according to the TEA.
Parents and guardians can view their children's individual STAAR scores, including their student's answers for each question, on the TEA’s Texas Assessments website.
