DISD Sees Gains In All Subject Areas On TAKS Except Marginal Drop In Writing

24 May 2005

DALLAS—Dallas Independent School District students saw gains in performance on this year’s TAKS tests in every subject except writing, where they only saw a 0.1 percent drop in performance, the district announced Friday.

The district saw a 4.0 percentage point gain in performance in reading across all grades, a 3.1 percentage point improvement in math, a 6.7 percentage point jump in science, and a 2.6 percentage point gain in social studies performance. The only measurable drop in performance districtwide was a 0.1 percentage point drop in writing.

"This is very positive news for Dallas ISD. The students, teachers and parents who were instrumental in making this happen are to be commended," Hinojosa said. "The trend lines in Dallas schools continue to move in a positive direction, but we must continue to focus on student achievement as Job One."

In all five state accountability student groups based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status and all student groups, DISD students met accountability standards for each of the five subjects.

All five accountability student groups made gains in reading—1.6 percentage points for Anglo students to 5.0 percentage points for Hispanic students.

All five state accountability student groups made gains in math—1.2 percentage points for African American students to 4.6 percentage points for Anglo students.

All five state accountability student groups made gains in science—6.2 percentage points for African American students, 7.1 percentage points for Hispanic, and 7.4 percentage points for economically disadvantaged students.

All five state accountability student groups made gains in social studies—1.4 percentage points for African American students to 3.8 percentage points for economically disadvantaged students.

In writing, three of five state accountability student groups performed worse than last year—a 2.7 percent drop for African American students to 0.2 percent drop in Anglo students, resulting in an overall districtwide performance of 0.1 percent percentage points lower than last year—79.5 to 79.4.

As a student group, Hispanic students gained 1.4 percentage points, and economically disadvantaged students gained 0.6 percentage point in writing.

"Obviously we are concerned about the slight decline in performance in writing scores for our students and will make this a primary focus as we conclude the school year and make preparations for next year," Hinojosa said. "We must ensure that all children in the district are being given the proper assistance they need to achieve, and at the same time, we must continue to ensure that our teachers and administrators are given the resources they need in order to complete their mission."

There were noted drops in performance by grade, however. There was a 5.2 percentage point drop in performance in seventh grade writing, and a 3.9 percentage point drop in performance in tenth grade reading. Fourth grade reading and third grade math scores saw 2.5 percentage point and 2.4 percentage point drops respectively.

"The good thing about these scores is that they show us where we have made improvements but also where we need assistance," Hinojosa said. "Drops in writing skills for seventh graders and
reading skills for tenth graders are certainly cause for concern. These are two areas we will have to assess so this will not continue."