In a report recapping the 2023-24 school year, the head of the Texas Education Agency expresses pride in the accomplishments of the state-run school system despite declines in already low student academic performance levels.
According to the agency’s 2024 Annual Report, only 48 percent of 3rd-grade students read at or above grade level—a 2-percent decline from the previous school year. Just 42 percent scored at or above grade level in math—a 3-percent decline.
Performance data for 8th graders was only slightly better, with 56 percent reading at or above grade level and 49 percent at or above grade level in math. Both those numbers dropped by two percentage points compared to the previous year.
Total per-student funding for the year was $15,503—a 48 percent increase since 2011, according to TEA, which administers the billions of dollars that fund schools throughout the state.
Education Commissioner Mike Morath acknowledged that the state’s education system faces “significant challenges” and “obstacles,” yet he still said Texans “can take pride in the progress toward growing opportunities for all Texas students.”
The dismal performance figures are based on results of the spring 2024 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, also known as the STAAR test.
TEA released the testing results for 3rd-8th-grade students in June. Performance declined in almost every grade and subject.
Annual STAAR testing is designed to “measure the extent to which a student has learned and is able to apply the defined knowledge and skills in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) at each tested grade, subject, and course.”
One Texas mom warns the STAAR results are even worse than they appear.
Aileen Blachowski, a parent advocate with Texas Education 911, calls the STAAR assessments “deceptive” because the percentage of test questions students must answer correctly to receive a passing score is shockingly low—well below 50 percent.
Texas parents and teachers have called for reducing or replacing STAAR for years, complaining that the high-stakes testing is too expensive, takes up too much class time “teaching to the test,” and yields unreliable results.
Federal law requires standardized reading, math, and science tests starting in 3rd grade.
In addition to STAAR, Texas 4th and 8th-grade students are also required to take national reading and math tests.
In the most recent national assessments conducted in 2022, Texas ranked 33rd in fourth-grade reading and 14th in 4th-grade math. Rankings for 8th graders were lower in both subjects.
However, the TEA report cites research showing that when adjusted for demographic differences, Texas ranked 5th overall.
In the 2022-23 school year, TEA rolled out a STAAR redesign and required the tests to be administered online. Both changes were mandated by the legislature.
Morath said “setbacks” in academic performance require “ongoing targeted support and resources to improve student success.”
TEA’s report includes a strategic plan with four priorities:
— Focusing on the “fundamentals” of reading and math to “eliminate the achievement gap.” Districts may add up to 30 additional school days to any elementary grade to help students catch up in these core subjects.
— Recruiting and retaining teachers. In 2023-24, more than half of newly hired teachers (56 percent) were uncertified with no classroom experience.
— Connecting high school to careers and college.
— Improving low-performing schools. Two multi-district lawsuits are blocking the release of TEA’s A-F school accountability ratings for 2023 and 2024.
TEA’s stated goal is that by 2030, at least 60 percent of Texans will have a degree, certificate, or other “postsecondary credential of value.”
Morath points to advances in career and technical education programs, access to high-quality instructional materials, and teachers earning designations as achievements “worth celebrating.”
While Morath expressed “optimism for the future of public education in Texas,” some Texans are calling for his agency to be dramatically reduced or eliminated.
“TEA serves no necessary purpose other than to launder money, steer contracts, and divvy out grants (bribes),” education advocate Lynn Davenport commented on social media.
The agency employs more than 1,200 people at taxpayers’ expense.
Public education is the largest function of the Texas state government, receiving almost 35 percent of all appropriated General Revenue Funds. A total of $93 billion was appropriated to K-12 education for the 2024-25 biennium.
According to the TEA report, Texas’ government-run school system contains 5.5 million students and 384,000 teachers on 9,088 campuses in 1,207 school districts.
Well over half of Texas students (62 percent) are designated as economically disadvantaged. A quarter (24 percent) are emergent bilingual/English learners, and 13 percent are identified as attending rural districts.
Lawmakers have already proposed hundreds of measures related to public education during the 89th Legislative Session, which began this month and runs through June 2.
The bill filing deadline is March 14.
The Texas Education Agency annual report for 2024 and past years can be found here.
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