Some Ector County ISD Board members expressed dismay with STAAR and End of Course exam results that were presented during Tuesday’s work session.
Many of the results were below state levels, although there were drops at the state level as well.
Looking at the percentages of students who passed and failed state tests, trustee Dawn Miller said the numbers were unacceptable.
Administrators noted that the STAAR was redesigned and was given entirely on computer. Scoring was also done by an automated scoring engine that could be re-scored by humans.
“We knew the redesign was coming. We had an opportunity to adjust and prepare,” Miller said.
She added that she would like to see data at least bimonthly to make sure the district is on track.
Miller said she would like to see how the district has done this year vs. last year and follow kids year to year to get data.
She would also like to see schools and teachers use data for each individual student so they can see where the students need help.
One of her concerns is that eighth graders are moving to high school and are not prepared.
Trustee Delma Abalos said there’s always a reason the district hasn’t done as well as they’d like.
“We’re going to have to own it there’s always a reason,” Abalos said.
Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Lilia Nanez said some campuses may not give short-cycle assessments because students are taking other tests. Nanez said classes also have to be taught with fidelity.
Board President Chris Stanley said it would be helpful to hear from principals about what they need and offer support in various subject areas.
“We need to throw everything we can at it to build it up,” Stanley said.
Nanez said principals have had to hire non-certified, non degreed teachers who don’t know content areas.
The End of Course results, released by the Texas Education Agency in June, are a key measure of student performance and academic readiness, include Algebra I, English I, English II, biology and U.S. history assessments.
Ector County ISD students were generally below state levels, but in some areas like U.S. history, not by much.
The details can be confusing but ECISD Chief Communications Officer Mike Adkins said in June that in the accountability system, approaches is the passing mark. In other words, approaches means passed and anything below is failing.
For all students in Ector County ISD in Algebra I for spring 2024, 69 percent passed and 31 percent percent failed. At the state level in spring 2024, 79 percent passed.
In biology for ECISD, 87 percent passed and 13 percent failed. At the state level, 91 percent passed.
For ECISD in English I, 50 percent passed and 50 percent failed. At the state level in English I for spring 2024, 67 percent passed.
ECISD’S English II had 59 percent passing and 41 percent failing and the state had 74 percent passing.
ECISD students in U.S. history had 90 percent passing 10 percent failing. At the state level, 95 percent passed.
ECISD’s Algebra I in spring 2023 had 70 percent passing.
ECISD’s biology in spring 2023 had a pass rate of 83 percent.
In English I for spring 2023, ECISD had 60 percent passing and in English II had 59 percent passing.
U.S. history results from spring 2023 had 89 percent passing.
STAAR test results for grades 3 through eight and the results were mixed for Ector County ISD.
ECISD lags the state in most areas.
Some results were much the same as last year, in math for example, but others were down from last year such as in fifth grade science.
Third grade spring 2024 math results show 64 percent passed and 36 percent failed.
For spring 2023 math, 65 percent of third graders passed and 35 percent failed.
At the state level, 68 percent of third graders passed math in 2024, compared to 72 percent in spring 2023.
In third grade reading language arts for spring 2024, 68 percent passed and 32 percent did not.
When students took the third grade reading language arts test in 2023, 68 percent passed and 32 percent did not.
At the state level, 72 percent of third graders passed in 2024 compared to 75 percent in 2023.
In 2024, 75 percent of fourth graders passed reading language arts and 25 percent failed.
In fourth grade reading language arts in ECISD in 2023, 72 percent passed and 28 percent failed.
At the state level, 79 percent passed reading language arts in 2024 and 76 percent passed in 2023.
In 2024, 72 percent of fifth graders in ECISD passed reading language arts and 28 percent failed.
In 2023, 74 percent of ECISD fifth graders passed reading language arts and 26 failed.
At the state level, 78 percent of fifth graders passed reading language arts in 2024 and 80 percent passed in 2023.
In sixth grade reading language arts in ECISD, 65 percent passed in 2024 and 35 percent failed.
In sixth grade reading language arts in ECISD for 2023, 68 percent passed and 32 percent failed.
At the state level, 75 percent passed in 2024 and 75 percent passed in 2023.
In seventh grade reading language arts in 2024 in ECISD, 62 percent passed and 38 percent failed.
In seventh grade reading language arts in 2023 in ECISD, 65 percent passed and 35 percent failed.
At the state level, 72 percent of seventh graders passed reading language arts in spring 2024 compared to 77 percent in spring 2023.
In eighth grade reading language arts in spring 2024 for ECISD, 69 percent passed and 31 percent failed.
In 2023 in ECISD, 75 percent of eighth graders passed reading language arts and 25 percent failed.
At the state level, 79 percent of eighth graders passed reading language arts in spring 2024 compared to 82 percent in spring 2023.
In fifth grade science in ECISD for spring 2024, 42 percent passed and 58 percent failed.
In fifth grade science for 2023 in ECISD, 55 percent passed and 45 failed.
At the state level in fifth grade science, 56 percent passed science in spring 2024 compared to 63 percent in 2023.
In eighth grade science in 2024 in ECISD, 57 percent passed and 43 failed.
In 2023 in eighth grade science at ECISD, 63 percent passed and 37 percent failed.
At the state level, 68 percent passed eighth grade science in spring 2024 compared to 72 percent in spring 2023.
In eighth grade social studies in ECISD, 67 percent failed and 33 percent passed in spring 2024.
For spring 2023 in eighth grade social studies at ECISD, 61 percent failed and 39 percent passed.
At the state level in eighth grade social studies, 57 percent passed in spring 2024 compared to 60 percent in spring 2023.
In fourth grade, 64 percent of ECISD students passed math and 36 percent failed in 2024.
In 2023, 66 percent of ECISD fourth graders passed math and 34 percent failed.
At the state level, 67 percent of fourth graders passed math in spring 2024 and 69 percent in spring 2023.
In 2024, 71 percent of ECISD fifth graders passed math and 29 percent failed.
In 2023, 77 percent of fifth graders passed math and 23 percent failed.
At the state level, it was 75 percent of fifth graders in 2023 and 79 in 2024.
In 2024 in ECISD, 65 percent of sixth graders passed math and 35 percent failed.
In 2023 in ECISD, 71 percent of sixth graders passed math and 29 percent failed.
At the state level, 69 percent of sixth graders passed math in spring 2024 compared to 79 percent in spring 2023.
In 2024 in ECISD, 52 percent of seventh graders passed math and 48 percent failed.
In 2023 in ECISD, 56 percent of seventh graders passed math and 44 percent failed.
At the state level in seventh grade math, 53 percent passed in spring 2024 compared to 61 percent in spring 2023.
In eighth grade math in ECISD for spring 2024, 61 percent passed and 39 percent failed.
In eighth grade math in ECISD for spring 2023, 64 percent passed and 36 percent failed.
At the state level in eighth grade, 70 percent passed math in spring 2024 compared to 74 percent in spring 2023.
