In their first encounter with the state’s new academic exam, Mansfield students surpassed state averages in all subjects except fifth-grade science, where they missed by a percentage point, according to a district staff presentation at last week’s school board meeting.
The students’ showing in the results of the Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test (STAAR), administered last year, prompted rounds of guarded praise from school officials.“Our results were pretty good,” said school board president Beth Light after the meeting. “But we’ve always got room for improvement. That’s why we’re always looking at new programs and implementing new resources for our classrooms.”Officials have implemented action plans at all grade levels to improve scores, including extra tutoring, test prep classes, staff development and more classroom drop-ins by administrators to observe instruction.“The teachers have become accustomed to seeing us on their campus. It’s not a surprise,” said Darrell Sneed, interim associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction and accountability. “We’re really focusing on the quality of instruction.”The STAAR, considered more rigorous than the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), which it is gradually replacing, was administered to third- through eighth-graders and freshmen for the first time in the 2011-12 school year. At the high school level, the STAAR is given in the form of end-of-course exams in core subjects.The 2012-13 STAAR will be administered starting April 1, this time including sophomores.This year’s juniors and seniors who failed or did not take previous TAKS tests are being retested on the TAKS this week.Next year, juniors will take the STAAR, then seniors will switch to the STAAR in 2014-15, ushering the TAKS into Texas education history.“That’s assuming there are no changes by the legislature,” said school district spokesman Richie Escovedo. “There are rumblings of potential changes to the high school level assessment, but that won’t shake out until the end of this legislative session. We are closely monitoring assessment and education-related bills.”On the STAAR test, the percentage of Mansfield fourth-graders who achieved the Level II “satisfactory” mark on the STAAR exceeded the state average by at least 10 percentage points in reading, writing and math. In fourth-grade math, 82 percent of students attained the mark, compared with the state average of 68 percent, a 14-point difference.Freshmen took STAAR end-of-course exams last spring and had the opportunity to retake tests in July and again in December. Not surprisingly, the cumulative results, which contained the spring, July and December test results, were much higher in most subjects than the spring scores alone. The cumulative results also did not include the scores of students who took the spring test but were no longer enrolled in the same school by December.The highest freshmen cumulative mark was in biology -- 95 percent, compared with the state average of 91 percent. The lowest was in English I writing -- 84 percent, 11 points higher than state average.Like the STAAR test takers, the Mansfield sophomores and juniors who took the TAKS last school year outscored the state average in all areas except one, 10th-grade math -- also by one point.The juniors’ passing rate was 96 percent in English language arts, 93 percent in math, 99 percent in social studies and 95 percent in science.Sophomores didn’t fare quite as well, with 93 percent in English language arts, 73 percent in math, 95 percent in social studies and 78 percent in science.Board trustee Raul Gonzalez said he looks forward to seeing how the improvement strategies pay off.“We’re not the best. There’s always room for improvement,” Gonzalez said. “There are always some things you can do to change things. That’s what I like about Mansfield: we’re always fine-tuning.”Robert Cadwallader, 817-390-7641 Twitter: @Kaddmann
