Thursday, June 6, 1996

Texas Students Record TAAS Gains

By PEGGY FIKAC
Associated Press

AUSTIN - Texas students' performance improved on most sections of the Texas Assessment of Academic for the second year, according to results from grades three through eight released Wednesday.

But Texas Education Commissioner Mike Moses said the state still has work to do, particularly on closing the gap between white and minority passing rates on the academic skills test.

"Although we are pleased with the progress our students have shown ... we've still got a lot of room for improvement," Moses said. "We should not be satisfied until our minority students are passing TAAS at a rate that is comparable to non-minority students."

Texas schools must "continue to challenge our system, challenge ourselves as educators, to improve the performance of all of our students," he said.

Concerns over TAAS testing have been raised by the Texas NAACP, which filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education over the exit-level exam. Students must pass that test, given in high school, to get their diploma.

State NAACP President Gary Bledsoe didn't immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press concerning Wednesday's results.

The March, April and May exams were given in reading and math to students in grades three through eight; in writing at grades four and eight; and in social studies and science at grade eight.

The 1.7 million students tested this year comprised 93.9 percent of those eligible, according to the Texas Education Agency. Last year, 95.4 percent of those eligible were tested.

But Moses said last year's figure included students who took the Spanish-language TAAS, for which results are not yet available. If those students are added, Moses said, the number tested this year rises to about 95.5 percent of those eligible.

Test results show overall improvement: Looking at reading, writing and math, the percentage of students who passed all three tests increased in every grade.

But fourth- and sixth-grade reading scores, when viewed separately, went against the trend.
In fourth grade, the percentage of students passing reading took a small dip. In sixth grade, there was a dip in the percentage of Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students who passed, while the passing percentage for the other groups remained static.

Moses said the test exemption policy was tightened this year, and thus more students with limited English proficiency took the English-language test.

The commissioner pointed to significant gains in mathematics passing rates in sixth and seventh grades as an example of hard work by educators and students, and a school accountability system that he said successfully focuses attention on problem areas.

For example, on the sixth-grade math test, black students' passing rate on the math section went up 19 percentage points, to 60 percent, and the increase among Hispanic students was 18 percentage points, to 67 percent.

Economically disadvantaged students' passing rate was up 18 percentage points, to 66 percent, while white students' passing rate was up 10 percentage points to 88 percent.

Moses said he can't predict with certainty the overall upward trend will continue but described himself as optimistic.

Among other points, he said, tougher standards are being imposed this year for schools to be rated acceptable under Texas' school accountability system. Student performance on the TAAS is the backbone of the rating system.

Besides the Spanish-language TAAS results, performance results released Wednesday also didn't include special-education students or those in year-round school.