2010-2011 TAKS Results

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released official district and campus ratings for the 2010-2011 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) results on Friday, July 29, 2011. Austin Independent School District (AISD) will once again be rated as "Academically Acceptable". On the 25 TAKS measures evaluated, the District's performance was at the "Exemplary" level on nine, the "Recognized" level on 12, and at the "Academically Acceptable" level on four.

The results indicated that ninety-three percent—104 of 112 of AISD campuses—are rated "Academically Acceptable", "Recognized" or "Exemplary." Our students achieved a passing rate of 80% or higher in all five subject areas tested and 30% of the students scored at the "commended" level—the highest performance level set by the State Board of Education.

Student group data was also positive: all student groups increased or remained the same in every subject area. Overall, the largest gains were achieved in Math and Science, the two areas where performance has been the lowest, both for AISD and statewide.

Since the test began in 2003, AISD students made dramatic gains across subject areas and in closing the achievement gap. For example, overall gains were seen in all subject areas: 20 percentage points in Reading and Social Studies; 27 in Writing; 30 in Mathematics; and 39 percentage points in Science.

Higher standards in Math and Science as well as the elimination of the state growth measure, known as the Texas Projection Measure (TPM), impacted us negatively, resulting in eight (8) secondary campuses out of 33, receiving a rating of "Academically Unacceptable"--Eastside Memorial Global Tech, LBJ High school, and Garcia, Burnet, Bedichek, Lamar, Mendez and Pearce middle schools. All eight of these campuses would have been "Academically Acceptable" if the TPM had not been eliminated. The District is carefully reviewing the data and will appeal several of the preliminary campus ratings. Final ratings will be released in October.

Overall, 23 schools are rated "Exemplary", 33 are rated "Recognized", 48 are rated "Acceptable," and eight are rated "Academically Unacceptable." All Austin elementary schools were rated "Academically Acceptable" or higher. Overall, 15 campuses will have higher state ratings this year, compared to last year. While this is a move in the right direction, the District also recognizes that too many students are still behind and will focus on academic rigor for all students and a college-ready culture to eliminate achievement gaps. Therefore, the District continues to strengthen its core academic work, including making curriculum and instructional improvements and revamping the assessment system so that teachers can monitor student performance in real-time. AISD also has redesigned the bilingual program around one-way and two-way dual language immersion so students will develop high language and academic proficiency. At the campus level, new programs are being implemented to bolster student performance. These include the Early College high schools at Reagan and LBJ high schools. AISD will also focus on the following five tenets: human capital; maximizing instructional time; high dosage tutoring; high expectations and a no excuses culture; and data-driven instruction.  

TAKS: By the Numbers