The setup
At the board of trustees Oct. 14 workshop, officials reviewed test scores from the beginning of the year, in which students were given a pre-learning assessment to measure their proficiency in standards, which could revolve around literacy, writing, math, social studies and more, according to district documents.
The results of these assessments are known as the district’s “high priority” learning standards scores, which are “learning standards determined to have high degrees of leverage and endurance in a student’s educational experience,” according to district documents.
These assessments differ from the State of Texas Academic Assessment of Readiness, or STAAR exams.
Students were given another assessment in October after the first phase of teaching. Officials noted the district has steadily improved in all grade levels with elementary math seeing the most improvement, said Sheridan Henley, CCISD’s executive director of assessment and evaluation.
“We did see ... some pretty good science growth as well as intermediate math growth, and our high schools, we’re kind of holding steady,” Henley said.
The only assessment not taken yet is elementary reading and language arts, or RLA. Elementary students at CCISD will take that assessment in December with an anticipated update from officials in January, officials said.
District officials also reviewed specialized math assessments at its workshop.
CCISD uses math curriculum program DreamBox Math to measure academic success through assessments, according to district agenda documents.
DreamBox measures scores with the assumption that kindergarteners enter in with a “0.0” grade, and by the end of the school year, it’s the district’s goal to bring them up to a “1.0” grade, which matches to the ideal score for an incoming first grader, officials said.
The same thing follows for older grade levels, meaning incoming second graders would ideally have a “2.0” score, and so on as the grade levels increase, officials said.
Henley said students improved in scores compared to beginning of year assessments, as well as October assessments taken in the 2023-24 school year.
