FWISD’s spring STAAR test scores show gains in elementary, middle school grades
The percentage of test-takers in the Fort Worth Independent School District who met grade level on the state’s elementary and middle school-level STAAR test increased across almost all grades in both reading and math during the spring 2026 semester.
Test scores for grades 3-8 on the spring 2026 STAAR exam that were released by the Texas Education Agency on Tuesday morning showed increases in the number of students who meet or surpass grade level in reading for every grade except for third and sixth grade. The percentage stayed the exact same as last year for those two grades.
Most grades saw gains between the 1-6% mark in reading. The grade with the biggest rise was 7th grade, going from 35% of students scoring meets or above in 2025 to 41% in 2026. The percentage of students who achieved a masters rating on the exam also increased across every grade level.
Math scores also rose across every grade level from last year to this year. Eighth-graders had the largest rise on the math portion of the exam, going from 31% of students meeting grade level in 2025 to 41% this year. All other grades increased somewhere between 3-7%.
Fort Worth ISD’s reading and math gains followed an overall statewide trend, according to a news release from the Texas Education Agency on Tuesday morning. Districts across the state saw the largest gains in math and social studies, while results in reading stayed largely steady. In grades 3, 4, 5, and 6, reading scores decreased by one percentage point. Fort Worth ISD did not decrease in any grade levels.
“The 2026 results demonstrate both the progress Texas students are making and the work that remains ahead of us,” wrote TEA Commissioner Mike Morath in a statement Tuesday. “We are encouraged by continued gains in mathematics, especially with the growing number of students participating and succeeding in advanced mathematics courses. The gains in middle school reading are notable, as it may be associated with the statewide ban on the use of cell phones in schools.”
Fort Worth ISD’s overall performance is still well below the Texas statewide average across the board. The district is within 7 percentage of the state average in math in grades 3, 4, 5 and 8. In grades 6 and 7, Fort Worth ISD is behind the state average by more than 16 percentage points.
In reading, Fort Worth ISD is within 10 percentage points of the state average in grades 3, 4 and 5. Grades 6 and 7 are both below the state average by more than 13 percentage points. Eighth-graders in Fort Worth ISD trail the state average by 29 percentage points.
Data from the Fort Worth Education Partnership showed a combined increase across all grades 3-8 of 6.1% from 2025 to 2026 in math scores, and a 3.3% increase in reading. The math increase was the second biggest in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, only trailing Castleberry and Lake Worth ISD. The reading gains were also the third highest in DFW, trailing Castleberry and Kennedale ISD.
Schools within the Fort Worth city boundaries posted math and reading increases consistent with county and state trends, Fort Worth Education Partnership data showed. Fort Worth and Lake Worth ISD both outpaced the statewide improvement average of 1%.
During a budget workshop earlier this month, Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Peter Licata mentioned the ongoing release of test scores while giving credit to staff who were in the district prior to the state-appointed administration’s arrival.
Licata took over as the district’s leader in March following the TEA’s takeover of the district after a campus received five consecutive years of F grades in the state’s annual A-F Accountability ratings. Last week’s release of ninth- and 10th-grade end-of-course STAAR exam scores and this week’s 3-8 scores mark the first test results since the TEA takeover.
“I want to give some early insights and (a) reminder that this is raw data, it is not official for school grades,” Licata said. “We’re predicting some nice increases in some areas. We have some nice gains in schools. Overall, had some great movement to the positive. Again, I want to remind everyone that we have only been here for a couple of months, and certainly the credit goes to the folks that were here and are still here.”
Despite overall improvements across the district in both the high school EOC STAAR test and the 3-8 exams, Licata announced last week that more than a dozen schools experienced notable snags that would qualify them for the Elevate network. That is a group of the district’s 19 lowest-rated campuses in academic performance that will have additional resources for students and teachers and an extended school year. The district is investing $25 million into those schools.
“Given the timing of the data, we are not in a position to reconstitute all those schools, and it would significantly hit the budget for next year. As we know, we star teachers out at a very high rate of pay in those schools, were the bulk of the money for our Elevate program goes. We have a plan in place to fully support those schools and have designed (them) into a category that is similar to Elevate called Focus,” Licata said.
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 9:11 AM.
