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 53.0% mean for Reading at SMITH EL?
It means about 53.0 percent of students tested at SMITH EL 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.
