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‘Appalling and unacceptable’: Texas students struggle, test results reveal widespread loss

The nation’s report card outlines steep drops in math, smaller dips in reading.

The lingering impact of the pandemic’s disruptions on Texas students’ academic achievement was laid bare Monday with the release of new test results revealing steep declines in math.

Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress — more commonly called the nation’s report card — found Texas’ fourth graders scored, on average, lower in math than they have since 2003. Its eighth graders, meanwhile, saw a 7-point decline in their average scores since 2019.

NAEP measures how well fourth and eighth graders do in math and reading to get a sense of how students are performing on a national level over time.

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About 38% of fourth-graders in Texas scored proficient in math, down from 44% in 2019. In reading, about 30% of those students were proficient — roughly the same as in 2019, though still a number that education advocates and families find painfully low.

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(Laurie Joseph)

Texas is not alone in its struggle: The national average score declines in math were the largest ever recorded for the subject. No state or large urban district recorded any improvements in math.

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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called the results “appalling and unacceptable.”

“It’s an urgent call to action,” he said. “If we’re serious about leading the world in student achievement, where we belong, we must have an urgency now.”

Gaps between racial groups persisted: Black students in Texas had an average math score that was 26 points lower than white students, while Hispanic students averaged 21 points lower.

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Many education officials predicted this year’s results would provide the clearest picture yet of the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students — and the long road ahead for catching them up.

Though some states, including Texas, have seen improvement on state-level tests since the onset of the pandemic, the contrast between how students are performing on NAEP now compared with how they scored before 2020 is stark.

Texas’ biggest tool for catching up students after the pandemic is tutoring, but the effort has been hampered by staff shortages and logistical challenges. Some districts have also extended the school year or restructured the day to maximize learning time.

The state opened up for in-person learning earlier than some others, but education officials cautioned against drawing a straight line between time spent in virtual school and the NAEP scores.

“We cannot find anything in this data that says that the results we are looking at can be solely, primarily attributable to differences in how long students stayed in remote learning,” said Peggy Carr, National Center for Education Statistics commissioner.

Education officials say it is clear it will take a multiyear effort to help children accelerate their learning.

The Biden administration will begin this week hosting monthly strategy sessions focused on boosting math and literacy outcomes, as well as publish new guidance outlining key levers districts should use to address academic recovery.

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Math declines

Local and state tests have previously revealed that math learning was especially hard hit amid prolonged school shutdowns and virtual classes. Parents likely were less comfortable drilling math problems at home, and math also can be especially difficult to learn online.

Teachers often diagnose their students’ understanding of mathematical concepts by looking over their work, and children often rely on tactile learning tools — like blocks or coins — to help grasp new concepts. Math skills also build on each other.

Less than a quarter of Texas eighth graders were deemed proficient in math. That’s down from 30% in 2019. The declines erased two decades of progress.

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Carr said the eighth grade results were particularly concerning, because they indicate students are behind at a “pivotal” point in their academic careers. A strong foundation is key to succeeding later in life in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, fields.

“Eighth grade is that gateway to more advanced mathematical course-taking,” she said. “We need to be concerned about getting these students back on track so that they can be prepared for global competition in these areas.”

In response to longtime low scores, some academics have called for systemic changes to how math is taught in Texas.

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Texas, meanwhile, has redoubled efforts to focus on reading instruction and the research behind how students learn to decode language.

State lawmakers in 2019 passed a requirement that all kindergarten through third grade teachers complete a “Reading Academy” focused on science-backed strategies. The initial push aimed to get all educators trained on these concepts by the 2021-22 school year, but the pandemic extended that deadline.

While reading academies are mandated by the state, math academies are limited in availability. They are optional and admission is prioritized for teachers serving campuses with higher concentrations of students from poor families.

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Dallas and Fort Worth

NAEP is often used as a barometer for state-to-state and national performance.

Dallas and Fort Worth, however, are among 27 urban school systems participating in a special program in which more students take the tests, providing a broader sample for their schools that allows for more specific takeaways.

While Dallas’ overall scores continue to lag behind other large city school districts, it appears “learning loss” hit it less hard. Dallas students did not show statistically significant declines in reading in either fourth or eighth grade.

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Still, only about 12% of Dallas eighth graders scored proficient in reading. In fourth grade, it was 18%.

Fort Worth saw fourth graders’ scores decline more severely than the nation as a whole. Less than a quarter of fourth graders in Fort Worth students scored proficient in math. In Dallas, about 28% did so.

Despite student achievement holding relatively steady overall in Dallas, stark gaps remain between different groups of students. In eighth grade, only 5% of Black eighth graders scored proficient in reading, compared with 12% overall.

The small minority of Dallas students not considered economically disadvantaged far outperformed their peers.

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At least 34% of eighth graders not considered economically disadvantaged scored proficient or above in reading, compared with 9% of students eligible for the free lunch program. In fourth grade, only 14% of economically disadvantaged students were proficient in reading, compared with 66% of those who aren’t economically disadvantaged.

And more than three-quarters of the same fourth graders not eligible for free lunch scored proficient or advanced in math in Dallas. Less than a quarter of economically disadvantaged fourth graders scored the same. Only 5% of Black eighth graders were proficient in math.

The racial gaps in Fort Worth are more glaring. Though about 16% of all fourth graders tested in Fort Worth scored at least proficient in reading, at least 55% of white students scored highly compared with 12% of Black students and 13% of Hispanic students.

Only 6% of Black eighth graders in Fort Worth scored at or above proficient in reading compared with 10% of Hispanic students — 43% of their white peers scored proficient or advanced.

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Even less — 4% — of those same Black eighth graders scored proficient in math in Fort Worth, compared with 39% of their white peers.

State tests

On Texas’ state-specific standardized tests, students’ reading passing rates rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, also reflected lagging math achievement.

Following the results of this year’s STAAR scores and the release of school accountability grades, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath commended the growth students have made. Nearly three-quarters of Texas schools, for example, earned an A or B in the state’s academic accountability rating system.

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“Even with all of the disruptions of the pandemic,” he said, “we’ve seen significant gains, especially in academic growth.”

State officials will address the NAEP results this week.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, Todd A. Williams Family Foundation and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.