Boerne ISD students continue to fare better than their Region 20 classmates as far as fall 2021 STAAR interim test results go, but in some areas are struggling to meet the current grade-level standards set by the district.
During the BISD board of trustees’ December meeting, Chief Instructional Officer Larissa Flores went through a slideshow presentation highlighting how district students are faring in math and English.
“This presentation is meant to keep the BISD board members up to date on current academic progress of BISD students,” Flores said.
The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, is the state testing program that was implemented in the 2011–12 academic year. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and Texas educators, developed the STAAR program in response to requirements set forth by the 80th and 81st Texas legislatures.
The program is designed to measure the extent to which students have learned and are able to apply the knowledge and skills defined in the state-mandated curriculum standards, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
It includes annual assessments for reading and mathematics, grades 3–8; writing at grades 4 and 7; science at grades 5 and 8; social studies at grade 8; and end-of-course assessments for English I, English II, Algebra I, biology and U.S history.
Flores presented data at the elementary, middle school and high school levels.
In BISD’s seven elementary schools, 22 percent of third-grade students meet the standard in math while 33 percent meet the standard in reading. The Region 20 percentages are 11 and 20, respectively.
In fourth grade, 39 percent of BISD students are at the “meets” level in math and 60 percent are there in reading. That compares to Region 20 percentages of 28 and 45, respectively.
In fifth grade, 49 percent of Boerne students are meeting the math standards and 57 percent are meeting the reading standards. The region numbers are 27 and 42 percent, respectively.
Boerne ISD students who qualify also were tested in Spanish. In third grade, 6 percent of the students meet the standards in math and 17 percent meet it in reading. In fourth grade, the numbers are 16 and 23 percent. In fifth grade, the percentages are 19 and 50.
In all cases, the local percentages are higher than the Region 20 numbers.
Flores said as far as reading at this level, the district will continue to emphasize independent reading and stamina and produce a higher questioning level. In math, BISD will focus on new learning, problem-solving and application.
At the middle-school level, 36 percent of sixth-grade students meet the math standard and 42 percent are at the reading standard. The region scores are 23 and 28 percent, respectively.
In seventh grade, 40 percent of BISD students are at the meet level in math and 59 percent are there in reading. The Region 20 numbers are 27 and 47 percent.
In eighth grade, 23 percent of students meet the standard in math while 53 percent are at that level in reading. The regional numbers are 13 and 38 percent, respectively. Eighth-graders also were tested in algebra, with 61 percent of local students at the meets level in algebra 1 and 37 percent in eighth- and ninth-grade algebra.
The reading focus will be to increase background knowledge through cross-content reading. In math, the goal will be to increase fact fluency and problem-solving skills.
At the high school level, 13 percent of BISD students meet the standard in algebra 1 while 37 percent are there in eighth- and ninth-grade algebra. In Region 20, only eighth- and ninth-grade results were available, and they were at 16 percent.
In English 1, 56 percent of Boerne students meet the standard while the Region 20 percentage is 37. In English 2, the BISD percentage is 47 while the Region 20 number is 37.
Flores said the math focus at this level will be to increase fact fluency and problem-solving skills. In English, it will be the growth of informational texts and essay preparation.
Flores also pointed out that because this round of STAAR testing was done in the fall, many of the things in which the students were tested have not been taught in the classroom yet.
“So, we should see some improvement in the spring,” she said. “We will continue to build and grow.”
Flores also compared results from the fall 2021 interim to the 2020 interim. The percentages of BISD students at the meets level in grades 3-8 were about the same.
In reading, the percentage of students at the meet level were 51, compared to 53 percent the year before. In math, the 2021 number was 35 percent compared to 36 percent in 2020. In algebra, the 2021 percent was 37, compared to 36 percent a year earlier.
“We’re roughly in the same spot as last year, which is a good thing,” Flores said. “We anticipate a lot of growth in the spring.”
In June, Flores reported to the board that BISD students lost ground in key subject areas since 2019, according to at that time was preliminary STAAR data for 2020-21. The assessments were taken in April in May and were compared to results from 2019.
Flores reviewed the preliminary data at that time, and most of it showed a regression in the percentage of students who meet the STAAR requirements. A key factor in the drop, she said, was the COVID-19 pandemic as Boerne schools never reopened after spring break during the 2019-20 academic year with basic online offerings the only educational programs through May. In 2020-21, students had the opportunity to learn in the classroom or online.
Comment
Comments