Olivia GarrettCorpus Christi Caller Times
The Texas Education Agency released elementary and middle school state assessment results Friday, showing that Coastal Bend and Corpus Christi students performed either similarly to or slightly below other Texas students in many areas.
During 2024 STAAR tests, students in third through eighth grade across showed significant gaps and declines in math and science, while reading results were more mixed and social studies performance remained consistent.
The results released Friday include assessments in math, reading, science and social studies in grades 3-8. Earlier this month, the state also released results for end-of-course assessments in algebra, English, U.S. history and biology.
Individual student STAAR report cards are available online at TexasAssessment.gov, where families can use a unique access code to view results, as well as recommendations for supporting academic growth for their students.
STAAR results are categorized into four performance levels — did not meet, approaches, meets and masters. Approaches and above is considered passing, but the approaches level indicates students will likely need academic intervention to succeed in the next grade level.
At the meets level, students show critical thinking skills and the ability to apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Students at this level have a high likelihood of success in the next grade, but might still benefit from short-term targeted academic interventions.
Each section in this article contains more information about how Texas, Coastal Bend and Corpus Christi ISD students performed on the tests. The public can view and download data on assessment results by region, district and campus online through the TEA's Texas Assessment Research Portal.
Some parts of the online research portal separate results depending on whether students took grade 3-8 STAAR tests in English or Spanish. For consistency, results reported in this article take into account both tests.
Reading
In reading, the percentage of students statewide who met grade level in grades 4 and 6 rose by 3% and 4% respectively, while the percentage in grades 3, 5 and 8 dropped by about 2% each, according to a TEA press release.
In spring 2024, for each grade level, between 72% and 79% of Texas students passed their reading-language arts STAAR test, scoring in the approaches level or above. In spring 2023, that range was 75% to 82%.
This means that about a quarter of Texas students in third through eighth grade did not meet grade level expectations in reading according to state assessments in the spring and are unlikely to succeed in the next grade level without significant, ongoing academic intervention.
In the Coastal Bend, the percentage of students who passed reading STAAR tests was near identical to the statewide results in spring 2024 across each grade level.
The percentage who met the higher meets grade level standard in the Coastal Bend was slightly below the state for some grades and identical in others. For example, while about 47% of Coastal Bend fourth-graders met grade level, across the state, 49% did.
In Corpus Christi ISD, reading results were slightly below the state and regional averages in eighth, seventh and fifth grade, but in line with or slightly above averages in third, fourth and sixth grade.
Pre-pandemic and before a 2023 re-design of the test, a smaller percentage of Texas students scored in the approaches or meets levels. For example, in 2019, only 35% of Texas sixth graders met grade level in reading or above and only 66% approached grade level or above, compared to 31% and 61% in 2021, 42% and 69% in 2022, 50 and 75% in 2023 and 54% and 75% in 2024.
Social studies
Social studies results mirrored results from 2023, according to the release. Students only take a social studies assessment in eighth grade. In spring 2024 and spring 2023, 31% of Texas testers met grade level or above, though the percentage who approached grade level or above dropped slightly from 60% to 57%. These results are improvements from 2021 and 2022, but still lag behind 2019 pre-pandemic numbers.
Across the state, about 43% of eighth grade students tested in social studies did not meet grade level. In the Coastal Bend, that figure was 46%. In Corpus Christi ISD, it was 52% who did not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of assessed knowledge or skills.
Math
In math, student performance statewide dropped in all grade levels. Between 2023 and 2024 the percentage of students who met grade level or above dropped 3% for third grade, 2% for fourth grade, 1% for fifth grade, remained unchanged in sixth grade, dropped 3% in seventh grade and dropped 4% in eighth grade between spring 2023 and spring 2024. These results are also lower than pre-pandemic results.
“Results from the 2024 STAAR 3-8 assessments reveal the significant gaps in mathematics achievement across our schools,” TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said in the release. “While we continue to see progress in other areas - which is a testament to the dedication and skill of our Texas educators - it’s clear that math performance is not where students need it to be for success after graduation.”
In the Coastal Bend, math performance was slightly lower than state averages in sixth through eighth grade. In these middle school grades, Corpus Christi ISD results were below regional averages.
Only about 64% of Coastal Bend sixth-graders and 54% of Corpus Christi ISD sixth-graders approached grade level compared to 69% statewide. In seventh grade, only about 51% of Coastal Bend students and only 32% of Corpus Christi ISD seventh-graders approached grade level compared to 53% statewide, according to the state data portal. In eighth grade, only about 68% of Coastal Bend students and 62% of Corpus Christi ISD students approached grade level, compared to 70% statewide.
For third, fourth and fifth grade, Coastal Bend math performance was similar to state averages, while Corpus Christi ISD students met or just slightly exceeded state and regional averages.
Science
Students only take science STAAR assessments in fifth and eighth grades.
Statewide, the percentage of students who met grade level or above dropped from 34% to 26% in fifth grade and 45% to 42% in eighth grade between spring 2023 and spring 2024. The percentage of students who passed, meeting the approaches level, also decreased.
Across the state, about 44% of fifth-graders and 32% of eighth-graders did not meet grade level in spring 2024.
In comparison, about 46% of fifth-graders and 37% of eighth-graders in the Coastal Bend did not meet grade level in science.
In Corpus Christi ISD, about 50% of fifth-graders and 48% of eighth-graders did not meet grade level in science in spring 2024.
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