BREAKING DOWN THE SCORES The Texas Education Agency released report cards in February for Lake Travis and Eanes ISDs detailing State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness scores. Due to the pandemic, data for 2019-20 is unavailable. Overall, each school saw a dip in scores compared to 2018-19 but still ranked higher than the state average. Ninety percent of students in EISD and 81% of students in LTISD completed the exam.
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91% to 85% over the same timeframe and had larger variances in decreasing passing rates between campuses. Lake Travis High School saw the smallest decrease, going from 92% to 90%. The largest decrease in LTISD was for Hudson Bend Middle School, which dropped 13 percentage points from 2019 to 2021, going from 92% to 79%. Although the decrease is larger, the test participation rate also dropped 33 percentage points compared to the previous year at Hudson Bend Middle School, resulting in the lowest participation rate in the district at 66%. Lake Pointe, Serene Hills and Rough Hollow elementary schools had participation rates of at least 90%, while other schools ranged from 75%-85%. STAAR exams are graded in four categories: Did Not Meet, Approaches Grade Level or Above, Meets Grade Level or Above and Masters Grade Level. For students, Approaches Grade Level is considered passing but means students may need targeted academic intervention to succeed in the next grade. Meets Grade Level indicates students who have a high likelihood of success in the next grade with short-term academic intervention, while students who receive the Masters Grade Level designation are expected to succeed in the next grade with little or no academic intervention. Among scores, there were
also larger drops in the second and third tier achievement rates for STAAR exams, which could also have been due to students not taking the test, Allen said. “Especially in our secondary campuses we had quite a large percentage of kids that were learning virtually and then opted not to come in and test,” Allen said. “That’s where we’re going to see that impact from year to year. We are really focusing on student growth … but that is really hard [to see] on a report card.” LTISD additionally administered a test for all students to take at the beginning of their academic year in August to gauge student performance and account for students who did not take the STAAR exam in May. These results were used to identify students in need of additional instruction. Focus on students Following the onset of the pandemic, districts are now focusing efforts to bolster social and emotional learning, which helps students develop the skills to manage their emotions and establish their identities in the classroom. At both LTISD and EISD, curriculums have been developed for teachers to pull from and incorporate social and emotional learning into their lessons. EISD also has counselors give guidance lessons in classrooms, Fambrough said. “Our teachers have a firm belief that a relationship is at the core of everything we do,” Westlake High School Principal Steve Ramsey said. “So if you have a relationship with your kids, then that learning is alreadyhappening. Our teachers believe they are going to try to take care of students where they’re at and [learn] how to get them to the next stage.” Kendall Sealy is a seventh grade Texas history teacher at Hudson Bend Middle School. For middle schools in LTISD, a weekly lesson in social and emotional
more substantial drops in passing percentages on the STAAR test than others. Lower average scores STAAR tests are standardized tests administered by the Texas Education Agency to track student progress and identify students who need more assistance. STAAR tests were not administered in 2020 due to the pandemic, and though the test is usually mandatory, in 2021 students could opt out of the in-person exam. Comparing 2019 scores with 2021 is difficult because the number of students who took the test differs, and results may be skewed as a result, Allen said. In EISD, the districtwide passing average for STAAR scores went from 96% in 2019 to 92% in 2021. Each campus in EISD generally saw a 2-6 percentage point decrease in its score and remained at or above 90% passing, with the exception of Valley View Elementary, which saw a 9 percentage point decrease from 89% to 80%. Seven of the schools had over 90% of students participate in the tests, while two had over 80%. “I think that we’re very proud of the scores that we have,” Fambrough said. “Our teachers and our students really worked hard to make sure that learning was still happening and students were engaged.” The districtwide passing rate for LTISD went from
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHO PASSED THE STAAR EXAM
EANES ISD
2019 2021
98% 96%
WESTLAKE
96% 93%
HILL COUNTRY
95% 91% 95% 94% 95% 90% 95% 92% 92% 90% 98% 92% 89% 80%
WEST RIDGE
BARTON CREEK
BRIDGE POINT
CEDAR CREEK
EANES
FOREST TRAIL
VALLEY VIEW
LAKE TRAVIS ISD
2019 2021
92% 90%
LAKE TRAVIS
N/A*
90%
BEE CAVE
92% 79%
HUDSON BEND
91% 85% 90% 86% 95% 91% 79% 63% 93% 86%
LAKE TRAVIS
BEE CAVE
LAKE POINTE
LAKE TRAVIS
LAKEWAY
N/A*
89%
ROUGH HOLLOW
91% 82% 90% 79%
SERENE HILLS
WEST CYPRESS HILLS
*CAMPUS BUILT AFTER 2018-19 ACADEMIC YEAR
POLICY
A CHANGE IN
House Bill 4545 is a statute that went into effect in June instituting new requirements for students who do not pass the STAAR exam.
1 Fifth and eighth graders can no longer be held back for failing the STAAR test. 2 Fifth and eighth graders will now have one testing opportunity for math and reading (previous law included two retests).
3 Algebra II and English III will no longer have STAAR tests. 4 Any student who fails STAAR will be assigned a teacher skilled in the failed subject or attend tutoring before, after or during school.
5 Students who fail the STAAR test in grades three, five or eight in reading or math will receive an individual plan for improvement from an accelerated learning committee.
Students who fail the STAAR test will receive an individual plan for improvement and monitoring determined by an accelerated learning committee, which consists of: • principal or principal’s designee • student’s parent or guardian • teacher of subject student failed
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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