{"id":42777,"date":"2025-07-06T07:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42777\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T07:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:15:09","slug":"dallas-isd-students-make-promising-staar-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42777\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas ISD students make promising STAAR gains"},"content":{"rendered":"

The percentage<\/a> of Texas elementary and middle school students meeting grade-level standards on STAAR reading tests this year improved in most grades and topped pre-pandemic levels. Dallas ISD and Houston ISD<\/a> both saw notable improvements this year, signaling progress in districts serving some of the state\u2019s most underserved students.<\/p>\n

DISD\u2019s results are particularly promising. Roughly 47% of DISD third graders met grade-level expectations in reading. That\u2019s just shy of the statewide results, where 49% of third graders reached the same benchmark. <\/p>\n

DISD, the second-largest public school district in Texas, serves a student population that is nearly 90% economically disadvantaged, according to a 2024 district news release. This year, the percentage of DISD students meeting grade-level expectations across all subjects and grade levels rose by 3 points. Economically disadvantaged students in particular saw a 4-point increase.<\/p>\n

Emergent bilingual students also saw a 1-point gain in the percentage of students meeting grade-level standards in reading and language arts compared with those across the state, where there was a 4-point decline for these students. This gives us hope that DISD is focusing on students who need extra support, and it\u2019s paying off.<\/p>\n

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These gains are especially meaningful given the way the STAAR measures success. Rather than comparing students\u2019 performance to their peers, the test evaluates how well students have mastered grade-level skills. This emphasis on mastery provides educators with a clearer picture of what students have actually learned.<\/p>\n

Introduced in 2015, DISD\u2019s pay-for-performance teacher evaluation system, known as the Teacher Excellence Initiative, has helped retain high-performing teachers and keep them in the classroom. It\u2019s motivating to see that the district\u2019s continued investment in teachers resulted in positive outcomes. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year we praised<\/a> TEI and its success in retaining teachers at a higher rate than the region and the state. A crucial element of DISD\u2019s learning program is Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE, a strategy that staffs high-performing educators at struggling schools. For the 2025-2026 school year, DISD will replace ACE with a new model called the District Support Initiative.<\/a> Although this model will limit the number of schools targeted for extra support, we hope that the focus on campuses of greatest need will continue. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s gains are worth celebrating. Improving academic outcomes, especially after the disruptions of the pandemic, is something to be proud of. The challenge now is to sustain this progress.<\/p>\n

But improvements like these, while encouraging, are also fragile. If teacher incentives are scaled back or critical support is withdrawn from high-need schools, there\u2019s a risk that progress could stall \u2014 or even reverse.<\/p>\n

We hope this year\u2019s STAAR results serve as motivation for DISD and other low-income districts across the state. There\u2019s still work to be done, but that shouldn\u2019t overshadow what\u2019s been accomplished. Students and teachers deserve recognition for the strides they\u2019ve made, and the support they\u2019ll need to keep moving forward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The percentage of Texas elementary and middle school students meeting grade-level standards on STAAR reading tests this year…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,16213,6083,407,7592,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-42777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-isd","11":"tag-editorials","12":"tag-education","13":"tag-staar","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114805061973846392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}