Fort Worth school district students post gains in math, reading on state STAAR test
Fort Worth ISD students improved in both math and reading over the past school year, according to scores on this year’s State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.
The Texas Education Agency released grade 3-8 STAAR scores for the 2021-22 school year Friday morning. The percentage of students in Fort Worth ISD who met grade level on math and reading climbed compared to last year.
Among third graders, 38% met grade level in reading, according to the report. That’s up from just 26% who met grade level last year. Education policy makers and researchers say third grade reading proficiency is a key predictor of how students will do for the rest of their academic careers.
In math, 27% of third-graders met grade level this year, up from 15% last year.
Although the majority of students across all grade levels didn’t meet grade-level standards on the test in either math or reading, the results are better than Fort Worth ISD leaders had predicted. During a Feb. 22 meeting of the district’s school board, Sara Arispe, the district’s associate superintendent for accountability and data quality, presented projections showing no growth in reading and only modest growth in math.
At the time, district officials projected that only 26% of third-graders would meet grade level in reading, the same percentage as last year. Officials predicted the percentage of third graders meeting grade level in math would climb from 17% last year to 19% this year.
The district made similar progress in high school end-of-course exams, the results of which were released last month. But those results still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.
Marcey Sorensen, the district’s chief academic officer, was unavailable for comment Friday.
Texas students rebound in reading, continue to lag in math
Statewide, students posted across-the-board gains in all subjects and all grade levels, according to the Texas Education Agency. Texas students made marked progress in reading: half of the state’s third graders scored on grade level in reading on this year’s exam, up from 37% last year. In the spring of 2019, the last round of testing before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, just 43% of Texas third graders scored on grade level in reading. In a news conference Thursday, State Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the test results showed that Texas students had essentially recovered the ground they lost in reading during the pandemic.
While Texas students posted improvements over last year’s scores in math, the state still has work to do to make up for pandemic-related learning gaps, Morath said. Across all grade levels, more test-takers scored on grade level in math on this year’s exam compared to last year’s. But at every level, students lagged a few percentage points behind math scores in the spring of 2019.
Overall, Morath said the scores are a hopeful sign that policy changes state adopted in response to the pandemic are working. In particular, Morath pointed to House Bill 4545, which Texas lawmakers adopted last year, as one factor that helped students gain ground. The bill requires districts to provide 30 hours of intensive small-group tutoring for every section that students failed on the STAAR. Many districts, including Fort Worth, struggled to find enough tutors to meet those requirements. but Morath said those efforts paid off in districts that were able to deliver that tutoring.
Morath also credited the hard work of educators across Texas for helping students rebound from school closures and remote learning.
“It is evidence that we have extraordinary people working in public schools in Texas,” Morath said. “Our principals and teachers have done everything they can to help our students.”
Arlington
Among third graders, 44% met grade level in reading on this year’s test, up from 26% last year. A third of third graders met grade level in math, up from just 18% last year.
Northwest
Third graders in the Northwest school district improved by 10 percentage points in both reading and math. In reading 58% of third graders met grade level on this year’s tests, up from 48% last year. In math, 47% of third-graders met grade level standards, up from 37% last year.
Keller
In reading, 62% of third graders met grade level on this year’s test, up from 50% last year. In math, 54% of third-graders met grade level on this year’s test, up from 40% last year.
Mansfield
In reading, 59% third graders met grade level this year, up from 51% last year. In math, 49% of third-graders met grade level this year, up from 43% last year.
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw
In reading, 49% of third graders met grade level, up from 34%. In math, 36% met grade level, up from 21%.
Birdville
In reading, 55% of third graders met grade level, up from 41%. In math, 45% met grade level, up from 33%
Grapevine-Colleyville
In reading, 67% of third graders met grade level, up from 59%. In math, 57% met grade level, up from 42%.
H-E-B
In reading, 64% of third graders met grade level, up from 43%. In math, 54% met grade level, up from 36%.
Carroll
In reading, 90% of third graders met grade level in the Southlake Carroll school district, up from 84%. In math, 84% met grade level, up from 75%.
This story was originally published July 1, 2022 at 9:20 AM.
