One year after state takeover of Houston schools, STAAR results show improvement

The Houston Independent School District is a year into a controversial state takeover, after the state said the district was failing students — particularly students of color — and needed to corrective actions.

One of the primary ways to measure these results was the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, the annual standardized test designed to assess student progress. Meanwhile, those in the district opposed to the buyout argued that results were improving under the new plan and that they needed more time.

So, after a year of recovery, how have HISD students fared at STAAR?

Nusaiba Mizan, who covers education for the Houston Chronicle, said test scores already released show improvement.

“The district saw a greater percentage of students meeting grade level on exams compared to last year,” she said. “And one way to contextualize this is that, overall, Texas students have seen a decline in the percentage of students meeting grade level. But in terms of year-over-year change and by exam, the district saw upward scores that the state did not see.

Specifically, campuses that were revamped through state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ new education system saw the largest increase in STAAR scores.

“Under Miles’ leadership, the renovated schools have a different instructional model and offer daily quizzes called Learning Demonstrations,” Mizan said. “There are other changes as well, like the reuse of libraries called “team centers” where students can work on advanced content.”

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Some grade levels and subjects have seen particularly significant improvements, Mizan said.

“There was a relatively larger percentage point gain in fourth- and sixth-grade reading and third-grade math,” she said. “The district actually passed third-grade math at rates higher than the state, although 1 percentage point higher.”

These scores come after a tumultuous few years for standardized tests, largely disrupted by the pandemic.

“Since the pandemic hit, test scores have seen some improvement. However, mathematics continues to lag significantly behind pre-pandemic student achievement,” Mizan said. “And it’s not unique to HISD. The state also sees this. And Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath even pointed this out in the press release regarding the statewide test results.

Miles said if test scores continue to improve, it could mean an end to the state takeover “sooner rather than later.” However, he warned that one year of data does not allow us to establish a trend.

“One thing to note is that the district is very focused on students achieving grade level. But students who reach grade level are a step above students who approach grade level. And that’s also the threshold for success,” Mizan said. “So when the district discusses its STAAR results, it talks about students who have met or mastered grade level, who are at the highest thresholds in terms of student performance relative to passing rates.

“What several experts have pointed out is that this is a single data set. So we’ll see later if this is a trend in our data or not.