By George Scott * 281-818-7872
Project Director, Academic Equity Advocates * ghscott2050@aol.com
Several of the columns published immediately prior to this one provide historical student academic performance data covering several academic years of STAAR testing through the most recent. (2023-24 will be added when available.) The column regarding Katy I.S.D. asks that district’s superintendent and individual school board members to produce research-quality data in the public interest that would facilitate independently reliable statistical analysis of many factors.
It may be helpful to understand the context or the common denominator that all of this data or ‘sought data’ have.
The STAAR tests are criterion test meaning from a layman’s standpoint that skills are taught; specific tests produce the content mastery (percent of questions or raw score points answered correctly) for each student. The TEA is in total control of what percent of correct answer are required on each test to FAIL THE TEST or PASS THE TEST (Approaches) or ACHIEVE GRADE LEVEL (the three most relevant overall performance standards). There is also a mastery standard but that is not integral to the analysis here.
It is important to note that students can PASS (or termed APPROACH grade-level) with very low percent of correct answers. Even the so-called grade level threshold at many, if not most, of the tested subjects are much lower than even 70% content mastery, for instance.
The TEA does not report JUST THE PERCENT OF STUDENTS PERFORMING AT THE APPROACH STANDARD. The total percent of students who are reported as achieving the APPROACH standard are lumped together with students who scored at the grade level threshold or above as well. Metaphorically, the TEA is disguising bad news in plain sight.
Here’s a link to a document AEA prepared that will show you the percent of right answers compared to the total questions or raw score points that would equal a perfect 100% content mastery score on the major STAAR tests by grade level for 2018-19, 2021-22, and 2022-23 academic testing years.
As you look at the tables that are produced in the four columns, please note the bottom lines:
- The PERCENT of students who failed the test.
- The total PERCENT of students who achieved APPROACHING (inclusive of grade level).
- The PERCENT of students who ACHIEVED JUST THE APPROACH STANDARD, thus performed below grade level.
- The total PERCENT of students who actually achieved GRADE LEVEL STANDARD.
- The total PERCENT of students who even the TEA acknowledged PERFORMED BELOW GRADE LEVEL.
Here’s the link to that set of tables that show actual performance standards for the years noted.
There are two essential components to understanding the performance mystery created by the TEA:
- The % of students at Grade Level or Above AND the percent of students below grade level, and,
- What score did a student have to make to achieve the passing standard and what score to achieve the grade-level standard? Take a peek a data in the link directly below.
RECENT PASSING STANDARDS THROUGH 2022-23 ON STAAR TESTS
There’s a good chance you are saying this is “too much inside baseball.”
ZERO APOLOGIES. If you want to understand how the TEA has thumbed its nose for three decades at the legitimate, statutory, and constitutional rights of economically-disadvantaged, at-risk students statistically dominated by children of color, you need to understand the State’s “self-imposed” rules that have allowed them to do just that.
ZERO APOLOGIES. If you want to internalize all those darned numbers about students passing the test but performing below grade level, the data and tables that are provided or sought must be at least scanned for insight – preferably enough of them read for genuine understanding. The tables have an easy structure. Study the first one in each set; every table that follows in that set is constructed exactly the same way.
ZERO APOLOGIES. If you want to understand how the why the TEA has manipulated passing standards during the STAAR era, you have to be able to add 2 + 2 to get 4. The good news is this is not rocket-science. However, it does take some time and effort to put 2 + 2 = 4 together.
In the following four columns, you have seen links to data or request for data in the case of Katy I.S.D.
Look at the tables in the bottom-line context of the achievement gaps between at-risk and not-risk students as well as the different ethnicities among student populations for which disadvantaged, at-risk students are statistically dominated by children of color.
At least consider skimming the 70+ page monograph and the data and documents links in the 10-part version so you can begin internalizing the reality of three decades of TEA student testing and accountability.
Combined, the top seven columns on today’s April 15 launch will give you more insight than most politicians, school board members, and too often the news media take the time to understand.
Happy reading.