STAAR, SY 2023-24
All grades, all students. % Meets Grade Level or Above.Reading
41.0%
State avg 51.8%
District avg 39.5%
County avg 52.4%
+24.0pp since 2020-21
Mathematics
39.0%
State avg 42.0%
District avg 34.1%
County avg 43.6%
+18.0pp since 2020-21
Science
18.0%
State avg 35.6%
District avg 30.5%
County avg 44.5%
+0.0pp since 2020-21
Social Studies
N/A
State avg 45.8%
District avg 41.7%
County avg 48.7%
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level, about 39 of 100 do math at grade level, and about 18 of 100 are at grade level in science. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 52, 42, and 36. Reading scores are up about 24 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 18 points and science scores have held steady.
What is STAAR?
STAAR (the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) is the annual statewide test used by all Texas public schools. Students in grades 3 through 8 take it in reading and math, with science added in grades 5 and 8 and social studies in grade 8. High school students take End-of-Course (EOC) STAAR exams in Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology, and U.S. History.
What does "% Meets Grade Level or Above" mean?
It is the percentage of students at the school whose scores reached or exceeded the "Meets Grade Level" threshold on the test. Texas reports four performance levels (Did Not Meet, Approaches, Meets, Masters). "Meets" and above means the student is performing at grade level or above. A higher number is better.
What does 41.0% mean for Reading at LOWELL SMITH JR INT?
It means about 41.0 percent of students tested at LOWELL SMITH JR INT performed at grade level or above on the STAAR Reading test in 2023-24. The statewide average for Texas that year was 51.8%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.
How is the state average calculated?
It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Texas, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.
Where does this data come from?
Texas Education Agency, State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), via the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR). School-level All Students subgroup. Headline metric is the cumulative "Meets Grade Level or Above" rate.
How often is it updated?
STAAR is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.
