{"id":333264,"date":"2026-06-12T06:06:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/333264\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T06:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:06:27","slug":"dallas-isd-staar-scores-show-students-closing-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/333264\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas ISD STAAR scores show students closing gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The results of this year\u2019s STAAR tests<\/a> show Dallas ISD is closing the gap with the rest of the state, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said Thursday \u2014 and it\u2019s doing so with more students facing challenges that could put them at a disadvantage academically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elizalde presented the district\u2019s results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness<\/a> at a board briefing Thursday evening. Across all grade levels and subject areas, the percentage of students performing on grade level either held steady or grew compared with last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, district leaders released preliminary scores<\/a> that showed gains in reading and math in grades three through eight. Elizalde cautioned that those results could change before they\u2019re officially released on Tuesday. Notably, the percentage of third graders testing on grade level in reading climbed from 43% last year to 45% this year. School leaders and education researchers say third grade is a critical milestone for reading because students who can\u2019t read proficiently by then are more likely to struggle academically later on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The preliminary results included scores for all grades and subjects except for seventh grade math. Elizalde said that\u2019s because the district gives seventh graders the eighth grade math test. The percentage of students who scored on grade level on the eighth grade math test held steady at 39%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TEA officials plan to release statewide, district and campus-level results for grades three through eight on June 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elizalde noted that Dallas ISD\u2019s demographic makeup is starkly different from the rest of the state. During the 2024-25 school year, 89.3% of students in Dallas ISD were classified as economically disadvantaged, and 50.4% were learning English, according to the Texas Education Agency. Statewide, 60.4% of students were economically disadvantaged and 24.3% were learning English.<\/p>\n

The academic gains reflected in this year\u2019s test scores are the result of the hard work and dedication of teachers and campus leaders in the district, Elizalde said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Board member Lance Currie said the test results show that the idea that low-income students and English learners can\u2019t succeed is \u201cdefinitively false.\u201d While he acknowledged that there are areas where the district needs to grow and improve, he said the test scores are a cause for celebration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students can learn, our teachers can teach, as long as we have high expectations, and we give them the tools and the resources we need,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab\u2019s journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The results of this year\u2019s STAAR tests show Dallas ISD is closing the gap with the rest of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[732,102,104,103,223,87998,89138,89205,90041,92239,89204,117621,92242],"class_list":["post-333264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-article","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-news","tag-tp-dallas","tag-tp-dallas-county","tag-tp-dallas-isd","tag-tp-ed-lab-school","tag-tp-ed-lab-teach-learn","tag-tp-education-lab","tag-tp-staar","tag-tp-texas-education-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}