District staff and trustees discussed LCISD students’ high scores in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, and SAT/ACT and college readiness metrics at the Feb. 18 board of trustees meeting. However, staff said students scored below their peers on seventh grade math.
“We continue to lead the pack in the state and the region,” Superintendent Roosevelt Nivens said. “To be an exceptional school system, an elite school system, especially in 2025, just shows a testament to our instructional staff and our bus drivers and our child nutrition workers.”
How it happens
The Texas Academic Performance Reports contains yearly data of staff, programs and demographics on campus and districtwide levels, according to the TEA.
While the agency continues to report data, the state has not released its A-F Accountability Ratings since a Travis County district court issued a temporary injunction in October 2023, blocking the 2022-23 report, Community Impact reported.
Per TEA data, the accountability ratings are based on the following metrics:
- State standardized test scores
- Graduation rates
- College, career and military readiness outcomes
In every subject and grade level, with the exception of seventh grade math, LCISD students led the state and region in standardized test scores, Brian Moore, LCISD’s director of research, assessment and accountability, said.
The lower scores for seventh grade math reflects “an alignment issue between the test and the curriculum,” Moore said.
In the seventh grade, students who are higher performing would be encouraged to take the eighth grade test to prepare for algebra. Meanwhile, students who aren’t encouraged to take the eighth grade test in the seventh grade would be more likely in need of intervention, Moore said.
“So the seventh graders that are high track math are not actually coming under the bubble of seventh grade, ... they're in the eighth grade scores.” trustee Kay Danziger said.
To combat this alignment issue, the district’s seventh grade teachers have formed a small group to study the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum and how it's been tested, Moore said. The state will likely soon adjust the curriculum and test.
“Just to reiterate, this is a statewide trend that we're not saying that our seventh grade math teachers are deficient in this,” board President Zach Lambert said.
What’s changed?
Additionally, the district saw a 10 percentage-point drop in college enrollment after graduation—from 2019-20 to 2023-24. The drop is attributed to national trends since the pandemic, Moore said.
“That downward drop that we see in all colleges is reflective of a national trend,” he said. “Because the last few years, we have seen less students going into college immediately after high school than what we saw prior to the pandemic.”
What else?
However, LCISD exceeded regional and state scores for the college, career and military readiness metric. Moore said LCISD is “significantly ahead” on completing college-prep courses, but lags behind in students receiving industry certifications.
The district attempts to monitor a student’s progress beginning in the ninth grade so by the time they are in the 11th grade, they have achieved one metric of CCMR, said Monica Baines, LCISD’s director of advanced academics and career readiness.
