GCISD should be proud of the work of our students, teachers, and administrators.
They deserve to be treated fairly regarding the reporting of STAAR results, and especially with respect and support for the difficult job they do to meet the diverse needs of their students.
In a misleading report, one-third of GCISD students were identified as failing the 2022 STAAR test. Performance on the test is defined by four categories: “Masters,” “Meets,” and “Approaches Grade Level.” Texas Education Agency (TEA) states all three of these levels are considered passing scores. The fourth category, “Does Not Meet Grade Level,” is the only category not considered passing.
Critics of the district have included the Approaches Grade Level with Does Not Meet Grade Level category on the STARR to support their claim that GCISD is failing one-third of our students. This is misleading and clearly contradictory to TEA’s process and intent in reporting student achievement.
Is improvement needed to help students as they continue to attend GCISD schools? Certainly, students come to school with gaps in learning, especially since COVID. However, the STAAR provides “gain scores” to inform students, their parents, and teachers of the progress they make from year to year and identify specific areas that need improvement.
The goal of the STAAR is not to quantify students, but instead, help them become self-directed learners who see a pathway to become educated graduates.
GCISD is a top school district – TEA has consistently ranked GCISD as an exemplary school district as indicated in the Texas Academic Performance Reports and School District and Campus Accountability Reports.
- 122 National Merit finalists and semi finalists have graduated from GCISD schools since 2018. They qualified to represent the top 1% of the 1.5 million high school students who took the National Merit Test during the years 2018-2023.
- A considerable number of GCISD graduates have earned post-secondary degrees in a wide variety of fields. Many of them hold professional certifications and play important roles in the future of our county and the world. Just ask their families, their teachers, and residents of the community.
Our district should be proud of the work of our students, teachers, and administrators. They deserve to be treated fairly regarding the reporting of STAAR results, and especially with respect and support for the difficult job they do to meet the diverse needs of their students.
The students, teachers, parents, and residents of the GCISD communities have all played a part in providing a first-class education in GCISD, and with cooperation and collaboration, we can continue to do so going forward. Anything less would be failing our children and our community.
Why doesn’t TEA use traditional percentages for identifying student performance on STAAR tests?
When analyzing STAAR scores, focusing on percentiles is common practice. This is because traditionally, percentiles are calculated by dividing the number of correct answers by the total number of test questions. However, relying solely on simple percentages of correct answers can be misleading. For instance, obtaining an 80% on a 30-question test would typically correspond to a B-. However, if out of a pool of 100 students, if 90 students scored below 24 correct answers, this would call into question the accuracy of interpreting your score as a B-.
Using a scale score instead of a simple percentage would yield a dramatically different outcome. Scale scores factor in the number of test-takers and the distribution of scores, which is influenced by the test’s difficulty. The method used to evaluate performance significantly impacts the scoring outcome.
Why are STAAR Raw Scores converted to Scale Scores?
The TEA website provides STAAR Raw Score Conversion Tables that correspond to specific tests, grade levels, subject matters, and years. These tables list raw scores and their corresponding scale scores. The conversion process is crucial because it considers potential differences in difficulty across exam forms and numbers of students taking the tests each year. By converting raw scores to scale scores, passing standards remain consistent across tests on a subject at a grade level across multiple years, even if the raw scores required to pass the test may vary each year. Scale scores provide a way to track subject-specific student performance and growth across grade levels, enabling teachers to identify areas that require targeted instruction. To learn more about the rationale behind converting raw scores into scale scores, visit: Why are the STAAR performance standards presented as scale scores rather than raw scores?
Assigning Performance Labels and Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) to Scale Scores
In 2017, new Performance Labels replaced the three level categories (Advanced, Satisfactory, and Unsatisfactory) with current four level categories and descriptors (Masters, Meets, Approaches and Did Not Meet) Grade Level. Along with the labels, updated versions of Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) were created to provide a more detailed explanation of what students must demonstrate to show improvement in a subject area in specific grade levels as they progressed from one performance category to the next. The PLDs reflect the expectations mandated in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), our current curriculum standards. Performance Labels and Policy Definitions developed by TEA are as follows:
- MASTERS GRADE LEVEL
Performance in this category indicates that students are expected to succeed in the next grade or course with little or no academic intervention. Students in this category demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in varied contexts, both familiar and unfamiliar. - MEETS GRADE LEVEL
Performance in this category indicates that students have a high likelihood of success in the next grade or course but may still need some short-term, targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. - APPROACHES GRADE LEVEL
Performance in this category indicates that students are likely to succeed in the next grade or course with targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts.- Note: In 2017, the levels Meets and Approaches Grade Level were created when the previous category, Satisfactory, was subdivided to give more clarity to the progress required of students taking the STAAR. Both Approaches and Meets performance levels are considered Passing scores by TEA just as Satisfactory was considered passing in previous years.
- DID NOT MEET GRADE LEVEL
Performance in this category indicates that students are unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without significant, ongoing academic intervention. Students in this category do not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills.
For more information about performance labels and policy definitions, visit:
To find the Performance Level Descriptors for each grade level and subject-specific STAAR test, visit:
Converting STAAR Scale Scores to a Percentile
According to the TEA website, “The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®), a 100-Point Scale allows for the comparison of a student’s performance with the performance of other students who took the same STAAR assessment. The 100-Point Scale is defined using percentiles, which represent the percentage of students across the state who took the assessment and received a scale score less than the scale score of interest. The percentile score does not represent the number of correct answers a student may have based on the total number of questions asked.”
The mathematical process to convert a scale score to a percentile is described on the TEA website is available here:
Are STAAR percentiles effective measures to determine if our students are failing the STAAR and if our district is failing to educate our students?
Knowing whether higher or lower percentages of students met or did not meet the grade levels from year to year offers us a sense of how students performed in the tests collectively. However, outcome measures such as percentiles are extremely limited in showing the underlying teaching and learning that teachers and students have experienced under various circumstances during that year. Therefore, it requires more than percentiles to decide whether schools are helping students in a more meaningful way.
How do we know if our students are receiving the quality education that we expect and they deserve?
The most important information that benefits our students, their parents and our educators is actually the STAAR Progress Measure which is created for each individual student and available to them and their parents after the tests are administered. According to TEA, This document “provides information about the amount of improvement or academic growth a student has made from year to year by evaluating a student’s gain score – the difference between the score a student achieved in the prior year and the score a student achieved in the current year. Individual student progress is then categorized as Limited, Expected, and Accelerated progress.” Due to privacy protections, this information is not made available to the public. With this information, our students know what the expectations are for continued growth in each grade level as they move from one grade to the next. For more information, visit: STAAR Progress Measures 2023.
- Note: Due to a redesign of the reading language arts (RLA) STAAR, the inclusion of new item types in mathematics, a shift to a fully online assessment system, and required standard setting and validation processes, STAAR Progress Measures will NOT be calculated for 2022–23.
What additional data can be found to determine the effectiveness of GCISD in educating our students?
- Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR): According to TEA, “The Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR) pull together a wide range of information on the performance of students in each school and district in Texas every year. Performance is shown disaggregated by student groups, including ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The reports also provide extensive information on school and district staff, programs, and student demographics.” For more information, visit the Texas Academic Performance Reports.
Listed below are the most recent TAPR results for GCISD:
- 2021-2022 – A
- 2020-2021 & 2019-2020 – Not rated, Declared State of Disaster
- 2018-2019 – A
- 2017-2018 – A
Note: Earlier years used only 2 performance labels – Met Standard or Does Not Meet Standard to report district performance.
GCISD District and Campus Accountability Reports
- 2022 – Overall Scale Score 93 (A), Overall Student Achievement 89 (B) – because at least one campus received a scale score less than 70 in Student Achievement
Distinction Designation-Postsecondary Readiness
- 2021 & 2020– Not rated due to Declared State of Disaster
- 2019 – Overall Scale Score 92 (A), Overall Student Achievement 93 (A)
- 2018 – Overall Scale Score 92 (A), Overall Student Achievement 93 (A)
GCISD National Merit Finalists/Semifinalists
- 2023 – 16 finalists
- 2022 – 17 finalists
- 2021 – 15 finalists
- 2020 – 15 semifinalists
- 2019 – 26 finalists
- 2018 – 33 semifinalists
GCISD Awarded Top 100 Places to Work in DFW – 2018-2021
GCISD did not win this workplace satisfaction award in 2022 — want to know why? Click here.