WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Central Texas school districts are weighing in on their STAAR test results released Tuesday, and there are mixed reviews.
Temple ISD Superintendent Dr. Bobby Ott said they are excited about seeing growth in eight places like U.S. history and 5th grade science but said they dropped in five areas like biology.
“I’m satisfied with the idea that we have more areas of improvement and growth than we do areas where we flat-lined or didn’t grow" he said during an interview with our Epiphany La'Sha. Dr. Ott says Temple ISD staff continues to maintain and enforce policies such as cell phones in lockers and open campus lunch restrictions to support academic focus. They will continue developing and implementing individualized education plans for all students.
Superintendent Dr. Michael Novotny with Salado ISD told 25News, “ I’m very happy with our students’ test scores. We improved in the vast majority of subject areas and grade levels, and we exceeded the state’s scores.” Novonty gave praise to his students for such a great job, as he says their curriculum training played a large role in the campus's success.
Gabi Nino, Belton ISD's Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, told us, “We are performing at higher levels than the region and state, but what we also see are patterns and trends, and across the state of Texas, English 1 and English 2 are areas that are challenging us.”
She gives a thank you to her staff as they will continue focusing on teacher recruitment that prioritizes building strong relationships with students. Nino says Teacher and student relationships play a huge role in test scores.
Two of our districts sent over statements:
“We are proud to say that our results are at or above our pre-pandemic levels. One area that especially stood out was 5th grade science," said a Copperas Cove representative in a partial statement.
Killeen ISD told us via email in a partial statement, "Killeen ISD is encouraged by the early STAAR results - Out of 20 total assessments taken across all grade levels and subjects, nine showed the same or higher level of performance at the meets and masters performance level.”
Waco ISD was unavailable for an interview on Tuesday, but is expected to present its STAAR results during the next regular board meeting Wednesday night.
CLOSER LOOK AT TEST SCORES:
Eighth-grade performance levels in Waco ISD showed mixed results this year compared to last year, according to district data.
Math scores for students performing at or above the "approaches" level saw a slight decline, while reading and science scores showed modest improvements.
Temple ISD went down a few percentage points in math for 8th graders this year compared to last year, but almost a 10% increase in reading and a 3% increase in science.
Killeen ISD 8th graders, there was a small increase in math this year compared to last year; however, a slight drop in reading and a 3% jump in science.
College Station ISD 8th graders' scores dropped from 83% to 79% in math, and a slight drop in reading and a 1% increase in science.
Bryan ISD, a 1% increase in math and a slight drop in reading, and a jump from 54% to 62% in science.
The ISD campuses encourage students to participate in summer academic programs, including remediation and acceleration opportunities.
