On Aug. 15, the Midland Independent School District (MISD) assessed its results for grades 3-8 from the 2023 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test recently released by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The Permian Basin public school district said that it’s showing above state averages in six of 22 assessments: namely, fourth grade math, sixth grade math, third grade Spanish reading language arts (RLA), fifth grade Spanish RLA, third grade Spanish math, and fourth grade Spanish math.
“The STAAR 2023 results will serve as the foundational benchmark for Midland ISD, enabling the district to set ambitious goals by aligning student outcomes and growth targets with the state averages,” Ashley Osborne, MISD’s associate superintendent for teaching and learning, said in an Aug. 15 press release from MISD.
Per the release, results were scored in four categories: Did Not Meet, Approaching Grade Level, Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level. “While approaching counts as passing for state accountability, we are focused on improving the percentage of students who score ‘meets’ and ‘masters,’” MISD said, according to the press release. House Bill (HB) 3906, which was passed during the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019, paved the way for the redesign of the STAAR.
According to the release, eight of 22 areas showed improvement or remained the same from last year in the "meets grade level" performance category. At the same level in math, four of the six grade levels showed improvement or no change. Four of six areas showed improvement or no change in the "meets" categories on the Spanish tests, MISD said.
“While we are pleased to see improvements in these areas, we know there is much work to be done to improve,” Osborne said, according to the press release. “With state averages to compare results to, our focus is set on elevating performance across the majority of areas to align with and eventually surpass these markers.”
The district said that the state’s accountability, or A-F, ratings will be released in the middle of next month.