Staar scores show that students are struggling

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - After examining STAAR test scores from spring this school year, WFISD school board trustees were not satisfied with what they saw.

The Board of Trustees was able to see raw percentages of how grade levels are doing in subjects such as Math, Reading, and Social Studies.

“A lot of our kids are not reading on grade level, and an overwhelming majority cannot compute mathematics at grade level or even approach level,” WFISD Superintendent, Dr. Donny Lee said.

More has to be done is what several board members said when many of the percentages shown were lower at this point than they were last year.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing is having great teachers in every classroom. If we have great teachers in every single classroom then the academic outcomes will change, Kirby proved that,” Dr. Lee said.

Kirby Middle School was able to improve its school rating from an F to a D this year.

Board members believe teachers in the district are working hard and attribute the new STAAR Test to the recent decline in some students’ grades.

“We want all of our kids to be reading by third grade, and we want them on grade level in math in third grade so we backward plan from there, that is the plan. So, how do we get there? We started implementing the Texas Amplified Reading Curriculum. We did that last year with Southern Hills, Booker T, and Burgess. Next year which is going to be the 24-25 school year we’re going to introduce that to 5 more elementary schools and then the next year 5 more,” Dr. Lee said

The district also voted to implement a new math program for students to further help them improve their scores.

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