HOUSTON — On Tuesday, Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles shared STAAR test results for grades 3 through 8.
Last week, Miles announced improvements in the high school results, and this week, he had more good news.
RELATED: HISD says STAAR test results among high school students improved in first year of state takeover
"As I said last week when we announced our high school results, HISD students and teachers did exceptional work this school year," Miles said. "Now that all results are in, I want to congratulate every teacher, principal, and student on their outstanding effort. More HISD students are proficient in core subjects across the District, and that is an accomplishment to celebrate."
The STAAR exams are the State of Texas indicator for how proficient students are in various subjects. The results place students in one of four categories:
- Does Not Meet
- Approaches
- Meets or Exceeds
- Exceeds
HISD focused on students who reached the "Meets or Exceeds" score to gauge its growth compared to last year.
Miles called this year's results "record-setting."
"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 great for too long."
The data HISD released showed that Miles' NES, or New Education System, schools did twice as well as non-NES campuses on the STAAR test in the first year of the state takeover.
Miles pointed out an increase in Black student and Hispanic student reading scores while also acknowledging that minority and district scores overall are well below the state average.
The results released Tuesday are preliminary. The statewide results will be released Friday.