Houston ISD elementary and middle school students improve math skills amid statewide decline – Houston Public Media

Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media

While many of its peers and Texas schools as a whole saw a decline in math skills among elementary and middle school students this year, Houston ISD showed improvement.

HISD, in its first year under state-appointed leadership, saw a year-over-year increase in the percentage of students meeting standards in math for grades 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8, according to STAAR standardized test results published. Friday by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The district’s percentage of seventh graders meeting standards remained stable compared to last year.

Most other large urban school districts in Texas saw declines in math proficiency in most grade levels tested, with Austin, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio ISDs seeing declines in nearly every grade level. The same has been the case in other large districts in the Houston area, such as Conroe, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend and Katy ISDs.

These declines also reflected a statewide trend, in that the percentages of Texas students meeting grade-level math standards remained the same in sixth grade, while declining in the other five grades. Each of these percentages remained well below 2019 levels, which was the last STAAR test administered before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

HISD, where this year’s math scores also remained below pre-pandemic levels, was otherwise an exception in terms of year-over-year improvement.

“Our kids did very well. Our teachers did very well,” HISD Superintendent Mike Miles said last week, revealing the district’s scores ahead of statewide data. “They had one of the best years of academic growth the district has ever seen.”

Student performance in individual schools, within districts, and across the state is classified by the TEA as not at grade level, near grade level, at grade level, and proficient at grade level. Scores near grade level and above are considered passed by the state agency.

Miles was appointed to lead HISD by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who also replaced HISD’s nine elected trustees with a board of trustees because Wheatley High School had a string of academic failures on the part of the State.

Much like the high school STAAR scores released a week earlier, HISD also showed year-over-year improvement in most other tests administered for grades 3 through 8. Its reading scores improved by 4th through 8th grades, and the district also saw increases in the number of students meeting grade-level standards in eighth-grade science and social studies.

Statewide, the percentages of students proficient in reading increased in 4th and 6th grades, but declined in other grades. There was also a decrease in fifth and eighth grade science classes.

For the most part, HISD had percentages of students meeting grade level standards below the state average. But the Houston district had higher percentages meeting standards — in math, reading, science and social studies — than the Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio ISDs. El Paso ISD performed better than HISD in reading, but was outperformed by HISD in math.

In the Houston area, HISD had a higher percentage of eighth grade students meeting math standards than Cy-Fair ISD and Fort Bend ISD, and had a higher percentage of seventh grade students meeting standard compared at Conroe and Humble ISDs. Moreover, suburban neighborhoods mostly had better grades.

“While we continue to see progress in other areas – a testament to the dedication and skill of our Texas educators – it is clear that math scores are not where students need them to be successful after school. “graduation,” Morath said in a statement. “Pandemic-induced learning disruptions have exacerbated students’ difficulties mastering fundamental math concepts.”