This story has been updated.
New standardized test scores released Wednesday show that elementary and middle school students in San Antonio are recovering from steep drops in math scores recorded amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but reading scores that initially bounced back declined for many students in the pivotal younger grades compared to last year.
The scores are the first to be released since the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR test, was reworked to be all online and to include different types of questions and a new scoring formula — making comparisons to past years difficult.
San Antonio Independent School District Superintendent Jaime Aquino said Tuesday that explaining the changes to parents will be challenging, particularly as letter grades come out next month under a similarly overhauled accountability rating system.
“It would have been great if the TEA [Texas Education Agency] would have decided to this year not rate schools,” he said. “Just give us the data, the data is meaningful.”
The indicators that identify a student as being on grade level, approaching grade level or mastering grade level were also adjusted, according to BranDe Merriman, the director for performance and accountability for the North East Independent School District.
“I think it was, to be honest, so that the state could say the test wasn’t any harder,” she said. “So, we’re going to lower the standard so we can have more kids meet that standard. But that’s my opinion.”
Aquino said that while the changes make comparisons difficult, he welcomed the new test, which more accurately reflects how students learn in the classroom, such as using less multiple choice questions and more open-ended ones.
Research has shown that reading on grade level by the third grade is a crucial indicator of later academic success. Until then, students are still deciphering the mechanics of how to read, but starting in fourth grade, they transition to reading to learn. If they don’t make that transition, their academic future becomes increasingly difficult.
Third-grade reading scores dip
In San Antonio ISD, only 30% of third-grade students scored on grade level this year, down from 33% last year. Reading scores also declined in fourth grade but ticked up in fifth and sixth grade.
Similar trends were seen in other large districts, including the Northside Independent School District, which dipped 1% to 48% of third-grade students reading on grade level, and North East ISD, which fell 2% to 56% of students reading on grade level.
Judson Independent School District, the fourth-largest district in the region, saw a more considerable drop from 45% to 37% in reading on grade level by third grade.
Some smaller districts, including the Fort Sam Houston and Randolph Field ISDs, saw significant increases in reading scores at that grade level.
Fort Sam Houston, which enrolls just a fraction of the students at 1,635, saw a 10% increase in the number of students reading on grade level in third grade to 69% and a 25% increase in students reading on grade level in sixth grade to 75% since last year.
Smaller districts also followed the trend. South San Antonio ISD fell 4% to 23% in the number of students reading on grade level by grade three but saw increases in fifth grade to 35% on grade level, sixth grade to 24% on grade level and eighth grade to 35% on grade level.
Statewide numbers show that reading scores plateaued at 52% of students meeting grade level or higher.
Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a statement that the scores showed progress thanks to educators.
“Teachers across Texas continue to work with passion and skill to help students learn,” he said. “This year’s results show the efforts of our educators continue to deliver improved results for students.”
Math shows signs of recovery
In 2021, the first year the STAAR test was given after the pandemic disrupted education, only 6% of San Antonio ISD students scored on the third-grade level in math.
The following year, students made double-digit gains to 20%. While less dramatic, that trend continued with 24% scoring on grade level this year. The number approaching grade level also grew from 47% to 51%.
More substantial gains were made in upper grades, with 31% of fifth graders performing on level in math, up from 26% last year. The number approaching grade level improved from 55% to 64%.
But Aquino isn’t celebrating the changes.
“If I wanted to make a comparison, which I am not, I would tell you I am very happy because we have 4% more of our students in math on grade level,” he said. “I am not saying that, I am not celebrating, I didn’t make that comment to my board, because … it is not a fair comparison.”
The data is still helpful, Aquino said, to identify areas to target improvement and to set a new baseline moving forward.
Gains were seen across the board for math in Northside ISD as well.
North East ISD, on the other hand, followed a different trend. Only 45% of students performed on grade level in third grade compared to 47% last year, and 45% in fourth grade scored on grade level, the same as last year.
The numbers weren’t surprising, according to Merriman, with both the change in test and ongoing delays associated with the pandemic impacting student scores.
“With third grade, it’s a little bit harder to tell if it was the assessment itself, or not, because you have a group of second graders who were kinders during the pandemic,” she said. “In math last year, our growth was out the door. It was fantastic, but we still didn’t have the math scores that we wanted, so we’ve had a focus on math all year long to try to mitigate that.”
The tests all being online also posed a challenge, with students having to translate skills they learned using paper and pencil onto a screen.
“Of course, we practiced it all year, but it’s something that they’re going to have to experience over and over again, to get much better at,” she said.
Scores improved in fifth grade, with 56% performing on grade level compared with 53% last year, and in sixth grade, with 41% scoring on grade level up from 40% last year. Progress was made in seventh grade also, with grade-level scores increasing from 18% to 26% and in eighth grade, from 46% to 54%.
Changes present a learning curve
Aquino said that as the data comes in from the STAAR scores, the district will start to figure out how the changes to the test impacted student performance, using that as a roadmap for how teaching might be done differently in the future.
“Last year we really didn’t know what the new assessment was,” he said. “So, we are looking at the data, disaggregating; what’s the performance of writing an essay for the first time online? Was that a challenge for our students because they didn’t have any experience?”
“We’re trying to find out to come up with a plan to better support our kids,” he added.
Merriman said that teachers have used raw data to target improvement plans, since the school year has already started without the data from the state. When all the state data comes out next month along with the accountability rating, they may have to reevaluate, she said.
“Once that data comes in, they’re gonna have to stop and just take a moment to evaluate their goals for last year and see if there’s anything they missed, if there’s anything that surprised them, and move forward from there,” she said.
