HOUSTON — On Wednesday, the Houston Independent School District shared its high school STAAR test results. Superintendent Mike Miles was happy with the results and believes they will end up being historic and show some of the most growth year-to-year in the state.
He also said there's still room to grow.
"Our students and teachers did exceptional work this school year," Miles said. "This has been a challenging year in unusual circumstances, and I am unbelievably proud of what this HISD community has accomplished together. When all the results are in, I believe HISD will have achieved some of the biggest proficiency gains in its history."
HISD released results for the STAAR Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology, and US History End of Course Exams. HISD said its students made "substantial gains" in four of the five subjects, even exceeding pre-COVID proficiency levels in some. Students at NES schools experienced "explosive" growth, gaining at least 5 percentage points in every subject, HISD reported. At the district level, "an increase of three or more percentage points over the previous year’s score is strong growth," HISD said.
The STAAR test results place students in one of four categories:
- Does Not Meet
- Approaches
- Meets or Exceeds
- Exceeds
The district focused on students who reached the "Meets or Exceeds" score to gauge its growth compared to last year.
Here's a quick look at the growth from 2023 to 2024:
"HISD still has much work to do to increase proficiency for all students, but STAAR tells us that we are headed in the right direction," Miles said. "This data shows we are improving struggling schools and closing achievement gaps that have been too big for too long."
The state is expected to release its data on Friday. That's when Miles said HISD would be able to compare its results to other school districts in Texas.
Watch Miles' full news conference by clicking here or in the video player below: