Tag Archives: STAAR

STAAR results show HISD is closing the achievement gap for all grade levels

Preliminary results for the 2023-2024 STAAR Exams show Houston Independent School District students made substantial gains in most tested subjects and grade levels.

For the STAAR Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology, and US History End of Course Exams, HISD students made substantial gains in four of five tested subjects, and in some cases far exceeded pre-COVID proficiency levels.

For grades 3-8, the most significant increases are in the number of students proficient in math and reading. Reading proficiency in all tested grades has surpassed pre-COVID levels, and HISD improved on the number of students proficient in math at every grade level.

See the full results here.

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HISD third graders define success with massive donation of dictionaries

Beginning in 2016 with only five schools, the Rotary Club of Houston’s Dictionary Project has been dedicated to providing reading resources to HISD third graders. The number of recipient schools has grown every year, and this year, thanks to the generosity of individual donor Kandy Kaye Horn, every third grader in every HISD elementary school was given their own dictionary.

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STAAR scores now available: What you need to know  

The Texas Education Agency has redesigned the STAAR student report cards and revised the way students’ performance is labeled on STAAR tests in grades 3-12. The results of the May 2017 STAAR and End of Course (EOC) tests are now available online at www.TexasAssessments.com. Read below to learn how to access your child’s score, how to read the new student report cards, and what has changed with STAAR performance labels. Continue reading →

What’s new with STAAR in 2017 

The Texas Education Agency has redesigned the STAAR student report cards and revised the way your student’s performance is labeled on STAAR tests in grades 3-12.

Confidential Student Reports

The STAAR report card your child receives is known as the Confidential Student Report (CSR). These report cards are published for all students taking the STAAR each year. The CSR has been updated to improve communication and transparency with educators and families, as well as to create a more family-friendly report on student progress that highlights growth and improvement as much as proficiency.  Continue reading →

TEA revises STAAR performance labels 

The Texas Education Agency has revised the way it labels how a student has performed on the STAAR tests in grades 3-12, and the new labels will be used for students taking STAAR this spring. (See STAAR testing dates here.)

Students receive a numerical grade on their STAAR tests, and these numerical grades are grouped into categories that are referred to as “labels.” Previously, a student’s performance was labeled as Advanced, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory. Now there are four categories instead of three. The new labels are as follows: Continue reading →

State releases preliminary STAAR math and reading results for grades 5 and 8

The Texas Education Agency today released preliminary math and reading scores for fifth- and eighth-grade students on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR).

Students were required to answer more questions correctly this year in order to pass. Continue reading →

Peer-created video spurs Davis HS students to use STAAR tutorials

A short public service announcement created by members of Davis High School’s magnet media program has led to a serious bump in the number of students getting ready for the next round of STAAR End of Course (EOC) exams.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/123665724 ” ]

The video, which features senior Esenia Mendoza, began appearing on the large screen in the commons area each morning beginning March 30. It was created to encourage students to take advantage of the STAAR EOC tutorials now available online.  Continue reading →

eNews Highlight: Preparing to become a ‘Mawrter’

Sharpstown HS senior talks about why she’s obsessed with collecting owls

Meghan Berndt has been justifiably excited about being accepted into Bryn Mawr, her dream university, this fall.

Now, the Sharpstown High School senior is getting ready for the big changes ahead, by getting to know both current and aspiring “Mawrters” and obsessively buying anything with an owl (the school mascot) on it.

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Burbank MS leaders to share best practices at TABSE conference

Campus leaders from HISD’s Burbank Middle School will be sharing the wisdom of their experiences with hundreds of other educators at the Texas Alliance of Black School Educators’ Demonstration Schools Symposium on Feb. 27.

The campus is one of only eight from across the state that will present some of its best practices at the event. Burbank was selected in part because of its success in closing the achievement gap. The school matched or beat both the district’s and the state’s averages on all students’ reading and math scores in every grade on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in 2013–2014. Continue reading →