Granbury ISD students performed above others in the state when taking the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in the spring of 2013, according to new preliminary data recently provided the school district by the Texas Education Agency.The students took the state-mandated tests in various subject areas pursuant to requirements in state law and agency regulations.
"These test results are just one of the many pieces of information we use to determine the quality of education in GISD,” commented GISD superintendent Dr. James Largent. “I still believe the testing and accountability system we have is a flawed system, based on multiple choice bubble tests.”
“I believe these results only reflect a small measure of GISD,” he continued. “Nowhere in these results are any indication of the quality programs, dual credit hours, extra and co-curricular successes, and many other skills we believe we are teaching in GISD to prepare our students for life after high school. We certainly expect our students to do well on any measure, but these test results are only a small indication of the success of our schools."
Students in grades 9 and 10 took end-of-course exams, and this also included some eighth graders taking English I and Algebra I as advanced classes. Last school year’s juniors were the last group to take the TAKS test. The STAAR results were:
| STAAR END OF COURSE EXAM | STATE | GISD |
| ENGLISH I READING | 70 | 80 |
| ENGLISH I WRITING | 54 | 62 |
| ENGLISH II READING | 78 | 84 |
| ENGLISH II WRITING | 52 | 61 |
| ENGLISH III READING | 63 | 99 |
| ENGLISH III WRITING | 42 | 90 |
| ALGEBRA I | 78 | 88 |
| GEOMETRY | 86 | 90 |
| ALGEBRA II | 97 | 99 |
| BIOLOGY | 85 | 92 |
| CHEMISTRY | 84 | 95 |
| PHYSICS | 81 | 88 |
| WORLD GEOGRAPHY | 75 | 85 |
| WORLD HISTORY | 70 | 75 |
Results for some end-of-course exams were recently rendered moot by the passage of House Bill 5 by the Texas Legislation. Among its many provisions, the new state law lowers the number of exams necessary for a student to graduate from 15 to five.
For the standardized tests for grades 3-8, the results were:
| STAAR EXAM | STATE | GISD |
| GRADE 3 READING | 79 | 81 |
| GRADE 3 MATH | 69 | 74 |
| GRADE 4 READING | 72 | 78 |
| GRADE 4 MATH | 68 | 69 |
| GRADE 4 WRITING | 71 | 72 |
| GRADE 5 READING | 77 | 82 |
| GRADE 5 MATH | 75 | 78 |
| GRADE 5 SCIENCE | 76 | 73 |
| GRADE 6 READING | 71 | 77 |
| GRADE 6 MATH | 74 | 77 |
| GRADE 7 READING | 77 | 84 |
| GRADE 7 MATH | 71 | 83 |
| GRADE 7 WRITING | 70 | 73 |
| GRADE 8 READING | 84 | 81 |
| GRADE 8 MATH | 77 | 75 |
| GRADE 8 SCIENCE | 75 | 87 |
| GRADE 8 SOCIAL STUDIES | 63 | 75 |
Some students are currently attending summer school and will be taking retests of the STAAR exams in late June and July. The district passing percentages could rise based on the success of these students.
State averages are the best estimates from available sources. Results from the Region XI education service area, including Fort Worth-area schools, are not yet available.
