Salado ISD exceeded the state average on all sections of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Test but two, seventh grade math and eighth grade social studies, according to the preliminary results which were released July 14.

On the seventh grade math section of the STAAR test, Salado students showed 64 percent satisfactory performance on the test, compared to the Texas standard of 71 percent satisfactory.

However, all of the 82  seventh grade students enrolled in Pre-Advanced Placement math took the eighth grade math STAAR Test, according to Superintendent Michael Novotny. Of those, 100 percent scored satisfactory on the test and 30 percent earned advanced score.

Additionally, 49 eighth graders who were enrolled in Algebra  took the Algebra I end of course test, showing 100 percent satisfactory and 94 scored advanced on the test.

The 2016 STAAR test increased its passing standards over the 2015 rating, meaning students had to get more answers correct in each area of the assessment to have “Satisfactory” performance.

“We are doing better overall on STAAR, but the scores don’t all reflect that because of the increased standards (the number of items required to earn a satisfactory (passing) score),” Novotny added. “The areas that we need to improve the most are 4th grade math and 8th grade social studies.  Our strategies to increase student achievement in those areas (and all areas) are both global (review of the assessment data, curriculum and instruction) and also individualized tutoring and interventions.”

After four years of seeing little change, the 2016 results for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) for grades 3-8 are on the rise. Thirteen of the 17 assessments showed gains – some as much as nine percentage points – when compared to 2015 passing standards.

“Student success on STAAR is generally up this year when compared to last year’s standards, which reflects the day-in, day-out hard work of teachers in the classroom throughout our state,” said Commissioner of Education Mike Morath. When held to the 2015 passing standards, the preliminary STAAR results show a nine percentage-point gain on the eighth-grade science assessment and six percentage-point gains on the fifth-grade science exam and the eighth-grade reading assessment. The fourth-grade reading assessment experienced a five percentage-point gain.

However, 2016 marked the first time that the state raised the passing standards on the STAAR. That means students generally had to correctly answer a few more questions this year to pass the test than they did in previous years.

At the higher passing standard, passing rates were up on six assessments and down or flat on 11.

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