At the Aug. 20 meeting of the Alamo Heights Independent School District Board of Trustees, district assessment presenter Dr. Jamie Walker reviewed 2024–25 student assessment results and district targets, saying the district exceeded state averages in every tested grade and content area. She told trustees the district posted its highest PSAT and ACT averages in three years and its highest school‑day SAT score in three years.

Walker said the district also saw a rise in students earning college credit via AP exams after the board’s policy requiring students enrolled in AP courses to sit for the exam. "We had more students taking the test — we went from 572 to 701 students who made a 3 or higher," Walker said. She added that the number of AP scholars — students scoring 3 or higher on three or more AP exams — rose to more than 300 out of 913 AP test takers.

Those gains matter because the board has set district targets that include having 90% of students meet grade‑level expectations and halving the gap between all students and students identified as economically disadvantaged. Walker said the district is close on aggregate measures but that gaps remain at particular campuses and grade transitions.

Trustees and staff framed the test results as a mix of celebration and targeted work. Walker pointed to specific areas for improvement: certain grade transitions (for example, kindergarten to first grade and fifth to sixth), some third‑grade math question types that revealed student difficulty with representation and entry, and constructive‑response writing. "Writing absolutely becomes a focus even though we did exceed the state," Walker said, describing how the new STAR construct embeds extended written responses in language‑arts assessments.

On writing scoring, Walker described a statewide controversy: essays for some grades are scored initially by automated systems, and districts may request human rescoring for a fee. She said the district resubmitted four essays for human review at $50 per essay; three were rescored higher, and one changed enough to become a passing score. Walker noted some districts spent thousands of dollars seeking rescoring and that the issue prompted legal action in some places.

Trustees asked about the district’s AP policy and exam affordability. Walker said campuses covered some costs and community organizations helped when families could not pay; students qualifying for free or reduced‑price meals receive a state reduction in exam cost, which Walker said reduced the fee by half for those students. She also told the board the district handled fee assistance discreetly.

On interventions and next steps, Walker said the district will use MAP and beginning‑of‑year STAR data (MAP testing to finish by Sept. 15) to identify students who regressed over the summer and set campus priorities. She told trustees the district has scheduled campus checkups on Oct. 13 and asked campus leadership teams to return reports on specific strategies to address identified targets.

Trustee Clay requested historical graphs comparing AP and dual‑credit enrollment; Walker said the two options have been “playing nicely together” and that both AP and dual‑credit enrollments have increased, and she agreed to provide comparative data.

Board targets and public reporting: Walker reminded trustees that the district’s accountability methodology includes raw STAR calculations and TEA scaling for ratings; she noted closing the gap remains an area of focus and that the district will return to the board with periodic updates and campus checkup results.

Ending notes: Walker summarized that the district exceeded state averages overall but that targeted supports are required in specific grades and subjects, particularly writing and some math strands. She closed by inviting trustees to follow up on the campus checkup schedule and intervention plans.