Chris Gilliam, the district's executive director of assessment and accountability, told the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees on Aug. 7 that the district's 2025 STAR (STAAR) results showed overall improvement and notable gains in elementary reading. District leaders and board members framed the results as evidence that sustained, aligned instruction is producing measurable gains.
Gilliam said STAR 2, the redesigned state test, is more rigorous than prior versions and includes 13 item types including constructed responses and technology-delivered items. "STAR 2 is rigorous, and to be successful, students have to regularly and consistently experience online questions at a similar cognitive level," he said.
The district exceeded state and regional percentages for "approaches" and "meets" grade level in third through fifth-grade reading-language arts (RLA), Gilliam said, noting the districtwide rollout in 2024'25 of HMH reading, phonics and grammar curricula as a contributing factor. "Third-grade RLA in English far exceeded this target at 61% for all students," he said.
Gilliam also stressed the difference between the "all students" dataset and the accountability subset used for state ratings. He said a large newcomer and emergent bilingual population can depress the all-students numbers because many newly enrolled students'including newcomers'are counted in the all-students data but not in the accountability subset. "When a student enrolls in CFB and is with us for a year or more, they are better off and they grow more than they would otherwise," he said.
Board members praised the results and asked about testing components. Trustee Kim Brady called the gains "incredible" and noted the district moved from long stretches of stagnation to clear improvement. Trustee Ileana Garza Rojas asked about the math curriculum timeline; district staff said a new math adoption will be implemented in 2026'27 following the standard adoption cycle.
Administrators acknowledged concerns about automated scoring of constructed responses and said the district is reviewing those items; Gilliam said there was not yet a decision to appeal scoring but staff were continuing to study the impact of the scoring model.
Why it matters: STAR results inform the district's improvement plans, federal and state reporting and classroom practice. The board and staff said the results will guide spending, curriculum adoption and targeted supports for English learners and campuses needing additional assistance.
The board requested a deeper, campus-level data packet and follow-up conversation in the district's data-to-action book and indicated the A'F accountability ratings will be reviewed once TEA releases preliminary district ratings later in August.