Both statewide and CISD scores did not see much 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.
However, the end-of-course assessments among high school students saw improvement in algebra 1 and biology, despite a decrease in English proficiency across grade levels.
Major takeaways
CISD Deputy Superintendent Bethany Medford presented STAAR results to the CISD board of trustees at an Aug. 6 special meeting. Medford stated in her presentation comparing CISD to peer districts in the area that most CISD students still achieved at or above peer districts' levels in terms of approaching the grade level score or higher.
“What we do [when] we look at this [data] is we look for trends, anything that stands out, so we can plan,” Medford said.
One area where performance decreased was seventh grade math. According to the weighted average between English and Spanish versions of the math STAAR, 62% of CISD seventh graders approached grade level in spring 2023 while 49% passed in spring 2024. Medford said the decrease at the seventh grade level can be attributed in part to the fact that advanced math students skip the seventh grade test and go directly to eighth grade math because the district’s curriculum is compacted at that grade level for the accelerated math track. Among peer districts, many students skip the eighth grade test rather than the seventh grade test, Medford said.
“This year, House Bill 3 required any student who scored in the 40th percentile or higher [in math] to automatically be placed in accelerated math in sixth grade. We started that work a few years ago, so it will be interesting to see over time as that catches up. ... Right now we're truly comparing apples to oranges,” Medford said.
In case you missed it
The STAAR was redesigned in 2023, and new changes were implemented in how tests were graded in 2024. In 2019, House Bill 3906 mandated a redesign of the state 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 mainly by computers with human oversight in an effort by the state to save money and make the grading system more efficient, according to the TEA.
Families can access their children’s results at www.texasassessment.gov.
Statewide, students are still struggling with math scores, and the decrease in math proficiency can be attributed to learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the June 14 TEA news release. The decline in math scores is also seen in CISD as the district struggles to bring scores back to prepandemic levels.
The breakdown
Among other results, based on data from the TEA on English versions of the tests:
- CISD students showed a decrease of at least 2 percentage points among reading passage rates in each grade except for fourth.
- Students at CISD decreased at least 2 percentage points in their math passage rates among all grade levels 3-8.
- Eighth-grade students at CISD saw math passage rates decrease by 5 percentage points.
- The CISD fourth grade English is the only class that improved reading passage rates, which went up by 2 percentage points.
- Statewide, third, fifth, seventh and eighth grade results showed a decrease in reading proficiency, each dropping by at least 2 percentage points from the previous year.
- Seventh grade math saw the biggest decrease in passage rates statewide—by 8 percentage points.
- In high school end-of-course exams for algebra 1 and biology, CISD students improved passage rates by 1 percentage point.
- CISD English 1 saw the largest decrease in passage rates by 4 percentage points.
