Fort Worth school district students post gains in math, reading on state STAAR test
Fort Worth school district students improved in both math and reading over the past school year, according to scores on this year’s State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.
The Texas Education Agency released grade 3-8 STAAR scores for the 2021-22 school year Friday morning. The percentage of students in the Fort Worth school district who met grade level on math and reading climbed compared to last year.
Among third graders, 38% met grade level in reading, according to the report. That’s up from just 26% who met grade level last year. Education policy makers and researchers say third grade reading proficiency is a key predictor of how students will do for the rest of their academic careers.
In math, 27% of third-graders met grade level this year, up from 15% last year.
Although the majority of students across all grade levels didn’t meet grade-level standards on the test in either math or reading, the results are better than Fort Worth leaders had predicted. During a Feb. 22 meeting of the school board, Sara Arispe, the district’s associate superintendent for accountability and data quality, presented projections showing no growth in reading and only modest growth in math.
At the time, district officials projected that only 26% of third-graders would meet grade level in reading, the same percentage as last year. Officials predicted the percentage of third graders meeting grade level in math would climb from 17% last year to 19% this year.
Marcey Sorensen, the district’s chief academic officer, was unavailable for comment Friday.
