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Houston ISD students at dozens of overhauled elementary and middle schools posted above-average growth on the state’s leading standardized tests this year, while the rest of the district narrowed the gap with students across the state, according to preliminary data released by the district Tuesday.
In the first year of a polarizing state takeover, the percentage of HISD elementary and middle schoolers scoring at “meets grade level” or above in math and reading increased in nearly every grade level, the numbers showed.
The roughly 70 elementary and middle schools that saw major changes to teaching and learning this year under new Superintendent Mike Miles’ “New Education System” outpaced the rest of the district in most categories. In reading and math, they saw an average increase of 7 percentage points in the share of students scoring at or above grade level, while other schools saw a 1 percentage point increase.
Data shared by HISD showed the district’s growth was higher than the state’s in every subject and grade level, though the state data will not be publicly available until Friday. HISD administrators allowed the Houston Landing to review state averages on the condition that the data not be published until it becomes public later this week.
Miles, appointed by the state in June 2023 due to sanctions against HISD, said the results represented “one of the best years of academic growth” ever in the district.
“Even I didn’t expect this level of growth,” Miles said. “We’re very proud of the fact that we made great strides this year.”
HISD posted significantly higher growth in 2021-22, the first full school year of in-person classes after sharp declines in scores during the pandemic. The district also made similar gains in 2016-17 and 2017-18, though those improvements largely mirrored statewide trends.
It will be several months before the Texas Education Agency finalizes results of the tests, known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, but the numbers released by HISD on Tuesday have gone through an initial round of state vetting, the district said.
The new data for third- through eighth grades come one week after HISD released its end-of-year exams for high school students, which showed similar levels of growth.
HISD did not release data Tuesday on the number of elementary and middle school students who took the STAAR exams. All students in grades 3 through 8 must take the reading and math tests, with limited exceptions.
The data released last week showed a dropoff in the number of students taking the high school tests, known as End of Course exams, when compared to last year. The decline was significantly higher at several of HISD’s overhauled high schools, which could make it harder to compare results from 2023 to 2024. Not all high school students take End of Course exams each year.
Miles said Tuesday that any fluctuations in the number of test takers reflected changes in enrollment, which has fallen across HISD this year. However, the decline in test takers at some campuses outpaced enrollment losses, state data shows.
Miles cautioned that HISD still has a long road ahead to maintain this level of improvement in the coming years. However, if HISD students post this same level of learning on state tests for two more years in a row, it might be enough to begin the process of ending state intervention, he said.
“There’s hope that we can move into an elected board status relatively quickly,” Miles said.
Asher Lehrer-Small covers Houston ISD for the Landing. Reach him at asher@houstonlanding.org.
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