The Texas Education Agency has released spring 2021 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness results.
The results include exams in mathematics and reading for grades three through eighth, fourth and seventh grade writing, fifth and eighth grade science, eighth grade social studies, and high school end-of-course exams in Algebra I, English I, English II, biology, and U.S. history.
The percentage drops are lower than the state, but the scores still trail. STAAR scores were used for information purposes this year and did not count toward state accountability.
During the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Scott Muri acknowledged the losses.
“Our kids really struggled mightily in our state and community,” Muri said.
When they looked at reading and math Measure of Academic Progress results, they saw students struggling with reading, but growing in math.
The number of students not meeting grade level increased as a result of the learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was true statewide.
Scores dropped across all English tested subject areas — both statewide and at ECISD — with the exception of English I and English II end-of-course scores, where minor improvements statewide were made between 2019 and 2021, a news release stated.
ECISD STAAR results reflect that the district closed the achievement gap with the state in 16 of the 22 tested areas when comparing the meets standard year over year results. However, the state still scored higher than the district.
ECISD also outscored state averages on the Spanish math test in grades three through five for students achieving the approaches performance standard and for students in grades three and four for students achieving the meets grade level performance standard.
