A district-wide assessment of the 2025 State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, scores revealed gains in language arts, math, and science, driven by district efforts to strengthen foundational literacy and expand access to advanced coursework, officials said at the July 28 board meeting.
While state curriculum changes and assessment shifts present ongoing hurdles, Board President Kristin Tassin applauded district and campus leadership for their “tailored interventions” to ensure every student continues to improve, while asking that the ongoing curriculum audit address gaps in math and social studies demonstrated by the data.
“These numbers reflect the hard work of every teacher in our district, every paraprofessional in our district, every principal in our district, and then the leadership team from this building and out into our campus level,” she said. “We can talk about it, and it's very different from executing it, and you guys are executing it.”
The highlights
The May 2025 STAAR scores, which were released in June, showed FBISD outperformed the state in all areas except Algebra and eight-grade math.
Stephens said other highlights, include:
- Language arts performance in grades 3-5 showed overall growth, credited to a strong focus on foundational literacy skills
- Mathematics showed an overall 2% district-wide increase and a 7-point gain at the masters level for third-grade students
- District-wide growth in fifth-grade science
- End-of-Course exam scores showed gains in Algebra I, Biology and U.S. History
- While eighth grade math scores appeared lower, Stephens many students took Algebra I instead, with high success rates—99% passing and 81% mastering
He also noted areas of improvement, including:
- Eighth-grade social studies showed decreases, due to recent state curriculum changes that reintroduced previously untested material
- Slight declines in English I and II, aligned with state-wide trends
Zooming in
Of the 20 campuses identified for targeted support based on leadership changes or performance data for the 2024-25 school year, 19 showed measurable growth in at least one academic area, said Jaretha Jordan, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning.
She said the one campus that hadn’t shown growth this year had jumped two letter grades in the accountability report for the 2023-24 school year, therefore requiring administrators to “dig deeper” for further growth.
For the 2025-26 school year, the district will continue to monitor these campuses while creating a new set of campuses to target, she said
“It wasn't just a teaching and learning department, it was organizational development and [campus staff] that came together ... committed to being intentional about supporting those campuses different from what we were in ways that were supporting other campuses.” Jordan said.
