Austin ISD improves STAAR scores as Spanish speakers fall behind

Austin Independent School District students scored above the state average in most courses, according to preliminary results from the 2026 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, released by the Texas Education Agency on Tuesday.

Austin students in grades third through eighth are scoring above the state averages in reading, math and social sciences, and in some cases even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. But AISD is falling behind when it comes to students who took the tests in Spanish and in seventh grade math, where students are way behind the state average.

An Austin ISD spokesperson said the positive growth is a result of the district’s additional “academic supports and strategic staffing.” They also acknowledged that there are “areas of improvement.”

“Austin ISD will continue to invest into our campuses that need additional academic support, including putting highly-effective teachers and curriculum support with the students who need them most,” district officials said in a written statement.

Education Commissioner Mike Morath said state officials are “encouraged” by the continued statewide gain in math, with more students succeeding in advanced math courses.

“The gains in middle school reading are also notable, as it may be associated with the statewide ban on the use of cellphones in schools,” Morath said.

Reading

Statewide results show third graders were the only students to have a decline in reading scores compared to last year, dropping just one percentage point. But in Austin ISD, the percentage of third grade students who met grade level for reading increased one point compared to last year, going from 58% to 59%, and eight points compared to pre-pandemic levels (51%). Third grade reading is one of the only tests where students have done better than in 2019 before scores dropped during the pandemic. The percentage of AISD third grade students who meet expectations on reading is also above state average — 59% compared to 51%.

However, AISD third graders who took the reading test in Spanish were less likely to meet expectations and scored eight percentage points below the state average of 28%. A similar trend can be seen in fourth grade, where only 12% of AISD students who took the reading test in Spanish are meeting grade level, compared to 29% of Spanish speaking students across the state.

Fifth grade Spanish speaking AISD students have the biggest gap compared to their English speaking and statewide Spanish speaking peers. Nineteen percent of AISD students who took the test in Spanish met grade level, compared to 35% of Texas Spanish speaking students.

Statewide, seventh graders who met grade level for reading improved from 52% to 54%. Eighth graders saw the biggest increase going from 56% to 59%. Those trends were similar for Austin ISD students, who are also scoring above the state average.

Math

The percentage of third grade AISD students who have met grade level on math is 46%. That’s not back to pre-pandemic levels, but it is two points above state average. The percentage of AISD third graders failing in math is still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Fourth grade Austin ISD students have been making gains in math, with 52% meeting state standards. That’s higher than the passing total before the pandemic. However, the percentage of AISD students who do not meet standards — 33% — is still nine percentage points higher than 2019.

Austin ISD students in third and fourth grade who took the math test in Spanish are falling behind their statewide and English speaking peers. Only 8% of third graders in Austin who took the test in Spanish meet grade levels in math compared to 28% of their Spanish speaking statewide peers. That percentage is 12% for Spanish speaking fourth graders in Austin, compared to 29% statewide.

Fifty-one percent of Austin ISD fifth graders meet grade levels in math, scoring above state average. For sixth grade, that trend reverses, with Austin ISD students (37%) scoring below the state (39%) on the percentage of students who meet grade level.

Overall, the state saw a decline in seventh grade math, which they attributed to more seventh graders taking the eighth grade math test than ever before. Austin ISD seventh graders are scoring way below the state average when it comes to math. Only 15% of AISD seventh grade students meet grade level compared to 28% of Texas students.

Students can only take the STAAR test in Spanish through fifth grade.

Social studies and science

Austin ISD eighth graders are doing better in social studies compared to the state average. Forty-one percent of AISD students meet grade level compared to 32% across Texas. Austin students are also hitting state standards at a higher percentage than they did before the pandemic in 2020.

The state recently updated the science curriculum for fifth and eighth grade. The TEA has said they are working on standardizing the results compared to last year, which will take over a month. The TEA said results on how fifth and eighth grade students did on science will be released on July 31.

Austin ISD middle schools

The state is expected to release letter grades for each campus in August, but the STAAR scores help calculate those results. Currently, Austin ISD is waiting to know the results for Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools. Each has received four failing grades in a row.

Those schools improved in math and reading, but are still falling behind on meeting grade levels. If one of those schools receives a third failing grade, the state could take over the whole district.

Families can access individual results on the TEA’s website or on Austin ISD’s portal.