HISD continues pattern of stagnating test scores

Student test scores in Houston ISD mostly declined or stayed flat from last year, with the district seeing bigger drops than the state average on the high-stakes exams, according to elementary and middle school results released Wednesday.

The bright spot was thirdgrade reading. Students posted a two-point gain that officials attributed to a new literacy program focused largely on lower grade levels. Reading and writing scores for older students dropped slightly, as did science scores.

The results continue a general pattern of stagnating performance since 2012, when the state rolled out a tougher battery of standardized exams, known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Many parents and educators, meanwhile, continue to apply pressure on

state officials to reduce the focus on the exams, arguing that teachers spend too much time on test preparation.

Lackluster results

Results across Texas have been lackluster, but HISD’s gap behind the state average generally grew this year. The difference between HISD’s Anglo students and their black and Hispanic classmates widened in most areas as well.

“We know there is more work to be done,” Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier said in a statement.

The district plans to expand its “Literacy by 3” effort next school year, distributing new books to fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms like those given to the lower grades. The program focuses on more frequent reading, with books targeted at a student’s individual level.

HISD’s passing rate on the third-grade reading test this year was 70 percent, compared with the state average of 76 percent. The results include students taking either the English or Spanish version of the STAAR exams.

On the eighth-grade social studies test, where HISD also saw improvement, the passing rate was 55 percent, compared with 64 percent statewide.

Math scores were not released. The state still is calculating the results following the launch of more challenging math curriculum standards this year.

Urban districts like HISD, with a high concentration of low-income students or those who don’t speak English, traditionally trail statewide averages. However, the widening disparity is disheartening, said HISD board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones.

“We’re glad to see the increases where they increased,” she said. “The decreases are, of course, disappointing and the comparison to the state is, of course, disappointing as well.”

HISD noted in its news release that the district’s latest test results included more students considered limited-English proficient and more special-education students taking the regular STAAR exams rather than modified ones.

‘Band-Aids do not work’

Skillern-Jones said the district needs to make sure students at all schools have equal access to effective teachers, counselors and other resources. Grier’s signature “Apollo” reform program, in place at 20 under-performing campuses, involved replacing most of the principals and teachers, hiring math tutors to work with small groups of students, and lengthening the school day.

“Superficial turnarounds do not work. Band-Aids do not work,” she said. “We have got to overhaul the entire system.”

The district news release said that the administration was focusing in part on recruiting and retaining top-notch teachers and principals.