El Campo ISD reports mixed gains on 2024–25 STAR assessments; district notes growth metrics

El Campo Independent School District staff presented the district's 2024'25 STAR assessment results during the Sept. 24 board meeting, reporting mixed year-to-year outcomes across subjects and grade levels and that 72% of students showed growth in English/language arts and 63% showed growth in math under the district's growth metric.

District staff walked trustees through two views of the data: a year-to-year comparison and a cohort comparison that follows the same students as they progress a grade. The presenter said the year-to-year table shows positive and negative percentage changes between 2024 and 2025, and the cohort column measures growth for the same group of students moving from one grade to the next.

The presentation highlighted specific examples: fourth graders scored 79% approaches in 2025 versus 74% in 2024, a 5-point year-to-year increase; other grade bands showed declines or larger swings, particularly between fifth and sixth grades in math where staff said scores often dip because of a change in TEKS and test structure. The presenter also explained a STAR test redesign that requires students to supply answers in some grades, which staff said affects comparability with prior years.

For campus comparisons against Region 3 and state averages, the district reported it matched the state in reading/language arts (74% approaches) and was slightly below the state in math (65% vs. state 69%). Campus-level highlights included Hutchins showing year-to-year increases in RLA approaches (62% to 69%), and Northside reporting strong fifth-grade math performance, where the district's "meets and above" and "masters" proportions approach district goals.

At the middle- and high-school levels staff noted additional testing factors that affect interpretation. At middle school, the district pointed out that many eighth graders take Algebra I and therefore are removed from the general grade-8 math STAR cohort; that practice can depress the reported grade-8 math percentage because higher-performing students are tested separately. Staff repeated that the Texas Education Agency requires students to take the assessment that corresponds to the highest-level course in which they are enrolled.

The district's growth report was presented as a separate slide set: for ELAR staff reported 1,123 tests with growth out of 1,565 tests (72% with growth) broken into 442 tests with no growth, 156 with partial growth and 967 with full growth. For math, staff reported 792 tests with growth out of 1,263 tests (63%), with 470 no-growth and 180 partial-growth tests.

Trustees asked about data stability and small sample sizes; one trustee observed that in a small district a handful of students can create large percentage swings and asked whether anomalous drops could reflect data issues rather than instruction. Staff acknowledged the sample-size problem and said principals and teachers have interactive access to the charts to identify which students fall into each category so interventions can be targeted.

The presentation closed with staff noting that growth metrics and cohort tracking are district priorities, and that accountability rules and future TEA changes under study (a 2028 proposal mentioned by staff) could alter how certain cohorts are reported so the district can avoid penalizing schools where advanced middle-school math sequence changes reporting patterns.

Trustees did not take action on the assessment presentation; it was delivered as information for planning and instructional decisions.