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Changes to the state standardized tests known as STAAR have made it difficult to compare how Texas students are doing in school in recent years, at a time when concern about the impact of the pandemic increases the urgency of knowing where students stand.
The Texas Education Agency redesigned the STAAR tests in 2023, making comparisons of recent test results to prior years like comparing apples and oranges.
But national tests known as the Nation’s Report Card can provide clarity. They’re designed to be compared over time, going back to the time the tests were first administered at the state level in the 1990s.
The results of the 2024 tests came out Wednesday, and both Texas, and the nation, fared poorly.
Reading scores are especially low. In 2024, the average reading scores in Texas for both fourth and eighth graders were lower than 2022, continuing a downward trend that began before the pandemic.
The average reading score for Texas eighth graders was significantly lower than the national average in 2024, and lower than the average Texas score has been in decades.
The nation’s average reading scores also declined for both fourth and eighth grade, but only three states scored lower than Texas in both grades.
“We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic, and where we are seeing signs of recovery, they're mostly in math and largely driven by higher performance students,” said National Center for Education Statistics Commissioner Peggy Carr in an embargoed call to reporters on Tuesday. “Lower performing students are struggling, especially in reading.”
Carr said the percentage of U.S. eighth graders scoring below the lowest achievement level in reading “was the highest in the assessment’s history” in 2024, and the percentage of U.S. fourth graders scoring below the lowest level was the highest it’s been in 20 years.
“This is a major concern, a concern that cannot be blamed solely on the pandemic,” Carr said. “This is not just a pandemic story. Our nation is facing complex challenges in reading.”
The lowest achievement level on the Nation’s Report Card is called NAEP Basic. Nearly 40% of Texas eighth graders scored below NAEP Basic in reading in 2024, a significantly higher percentage than the 34% of U.S. eighth graders who failed to meet that score.
An even higher percentage of Texas fourth graders failed to meet NAEP Basic in reading — 43%. However, that percentage was about the same as all of the U.S. fourth graders.
The national test has high standards, so testing officials said even a basic score shows some level of skill. But they said the high level of students scoring below basic is worrying.
“If a fourth grader cannot attain that achievement level with NAEP basic, we're saying that they're unlikely to be able to determine the meaning of a familiar word using context from the text,” said Lesley Muldoon from the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for the tests. “That's a critical skill that students will really need for entering middle school.”
Carr pointed out that test results can’t explain why scores change, even when there is correlation with other data points. But she did mention some common trends.
“In reading, we see that there has been a corresponding decline in students saying that they're reading for enjoyment,” Carr said. “We also see that lower performers readers, they're not coming to school.”
Carr said chronic absenteeism is especially problematic in math.
“Math seems to be responsive to in-school instruction,” Carr said. “When students are taught and taught well, and they're in school, there seems to be data to support that they learn.”
Nationwide, average fourth-grade math scores improved in 2024 — the one bright spot in the national results. The average score for Texas fourth graders didn’t change significantly from 2022, but it was higher than the national average, and the overall decades-long trendline for Texas fourth graders is up.
Texas eighth graders scored lower on average than U.S. eighth graders in math in 2024. However, the average eighth-grade math score for both the U.S. and Texas didn’t change significantly from 2022. Average eighth-grade math scores for both the state and the country remain below the average scores in 2019 before the pandemic.
Carr said one of the most concerning trends for eighth grade is a widening gap between high performers and low performers.
“There's a widening achievement gap in this country, and it has worsened since the pandemic, especially for grade eight,” Carr said. “We all need to come together as partners to catch these students up and improve achievement.”
In Texas, 44% of eighth graders scored below the lowest achievement level in math in 2024, compared to 41% of eighth graders nationwide. Only 33% of Texas eighth graders scored below NAEP Basic in math 24 years ago.
The Nation’s Report Card tests students in fourth and eighth grade in reading and math every two years. Fourth graders who took the test in 2024 were in kindergarten when the pandemic began. eighth graders who took the test in 2024 were in fourth grade at the start of the pandemic. Representative samples of students take the national tests.
The Texas Education Agency released a statement Wednesday saying that declines on both the national tests and the state STAAR tests show that the state tests are valid.
“The latest NAEP results confirm what yearly STAAR assessments have been telling us for all Texas students—pandemic-induced learning gaps remain,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in the statement.
“While there are key differences between the NAEP and STAAR assessments, 2024 STAAR results align with some performance trends seen on the 2024 NAEP. STAAR has long been proven as a valid, reliable and on-grade-level tool for giving Texas schools, educators and families a clear picture of how their students are doing,” the statement continued. “2024 STAAR and NAEP data show some evidence that targeted supports are working in earlier grades, while results from both assessments highlight the need for additional resources to support the academic recovery of students in older grades.”
TEA’s statement also pointed to some successes among English language learners and low-income students. It said Texas students in those groups outperformed their national peers.
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