HISD’s 2024 STAAR scores show growth

With just two exceptions, a higher percentage of Houston ISD students in grades 3 through 8 met or exceeded grade level on the Texas state standardized test known as STAAR, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by Superintendent Mike Miles.

Additionally, black and Hispanic students narrowed the achievement gap in several test areas with their white and Asian counterparts, Miles said. While the Texas Education Agency won’t release its preliminary statewide results until Friday, Miles projects that in terms of growth, HISD would outperform the state and several other large urban districts. Final statewide results won’t be released for months.

“The students and teachers in the district have done a great job. We have had one of the best years of academic growth the district has ever seen,” Miles said. “One year doesn’t constitute a trend, but that said, you can often tell you’re moving in the right direction with a data set if that data set is clearly linked to clear strategies that have been defined.”

Calling for a celebration, Miles, full of enthusiasm, highlighted the progress made in his schools of the new education system whose results, although still not reaching the level of non-NES schools, showed more growth figures impressive, for example 14 percentage points in 8th grade. in math, an increase of 10 points in 6th grade reading and 11 points in 5th grade math.

“NES schools have been performing better than expected and we have started to close the achievement gap,” he said. “Even though it’s not a trend, I think it’s pretty clear that the NES is working well.”

NES schools include the 28 schools selected by Miles and his administration as those most in need of corrective action during this first year of state takeover of the district, as well as 57 others who volunteered to do part of the program. Miles, who was appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, implemented a program of frequent testing throughout the day, emphasizing reading and math, particularly in those schools. For 2024-25, a total of 130 HISD schools will become NES campuses.

There have been a growing number of protests against Miles’ policy and it remains to be seen whether these test results will calm the situation. Some HISD parents have refused their children STAAR testing, saying they object to the time spent on standardized testing. Others say the tests are unfair because they include questions on topics that are not included in courses at that level.

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Gains made in many places.

HISD Chart

But if a school district’s success is measured by its children’s ability to read, do math, and understand science and social studies, all at grade level, as assessed by standardized test scores, Tuesday was a big step forward for HISD, at least as much as it was in terms of percentage points.

It should be noted, however, that when it is reported that 40 percent of HISD students are on grade level in third grade reading, this means that 60 percent are not. In fact, the state considers “approaching grade level” to be an achievement, so only the lowest level is designated “not meeting grade level.”

Digging a little deeper, an examination of the raw scores shows that in the 2024 5th Grade Reading STAAR, answering just 28 out of 52 questions would be considered “meeting” the expected level of performance. Moving down the scale to “approaches” – again which the TEA considers satisfactory – a raw score of 19 questions out of 52 satisfies this section.

Miles, while saying HISD will make “approach” data available, focused his posts on the competition or mastery level categories, saying the district should set the bar higher. “Approaches disguise movements as encounters and overtaking.”

“We want to raise our proficiency level to the state average because we are behind the state and have been for a long time, but our first goal is to get to the state average and then the state average national and beyond. Every time we close that gap with the state, we think that’s progress,” he said.

He also said Tuesday that if test results continue on an upward trend, HISD could begin returning to an elected board sooner than expected. The nine board members were also appointed by Morath as part of the buyout, although school elections continued, but without elected officials participating in district governance.

In response to a question about the value of the Texas State Assessment of Academic Readiness tests that the state began using in 2011, Miles said at length that not only is STAAR valid, but its results correlate with the NWEA MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) diagnostic tests.

“The STAAR exams are valid and reliable indicators, it’s not the only metric we look at, we look at NWEA and all that, but they give you a good overview over time of where you’re at.

“For the most part, it’s a good indicator of whether children can read at grade level. But we shouldn’t rely on STAAR alone. We can look at NWEA data that is also nationally standardized.

Miles became a little testy when asked a series of questions about the number of students taking the STAAR test and the results announced last week in high school biology, where there was a gain of 18 percentage points.

Fewer students took the STAAR in biology than English! STAAR test. Miles confirmed that many emergent bilingual students are funneled into other science courses in 9th grade and do not take biology until 10th grade or the STAAR test before then — a practice that was in place before it was superintendent and that occurs in other districts like Bien. Even critics who call it “cooking the books” admit that it makes sense for students who don’t speak English well.

The district has seen more than 95 percent test participation when make-up test takers are included, Miles said. The differences in the number of children tested were due to the district’s continued loss of enrollment, he said.

“Don’t miss the story, please. Eighteen out of 20 exams went up. Across the district, readings increased significantly. Our kids deserve some celebration, he said. ” That’s the passion behind these numbers.

“When there are schools that are doing well across the country and they don’t have children facing poverty or language barriers, we don’t get to the point where we try to find out why only 96 percent passed the test or 95 We don’t ask questions like some of these kids were asked not to show up?

“But when children face poverty, language barriers and other problems, we begin to discover why they have been so successful and there must be a reason for it. Unless there is a clear accusation, let’s investigate this clear accusation let’s not try to find it if it’s not there I don’t think it’s true. efforts.