This story will be updated.
Austin ISD students in third through eighth grade exceeded their pre-pandemic scores for reading across the board, results from , or STAAR test, show.
The scores, released Tuesday, show nearly all grades saw at least a small increase in the percentage of students meeting grade level. The only exception was seventh graders, who saw no change year over year, with 53% of students meeting grade level in 2024 and 2025.
Elementary and middle school students saw mixed results in math, with some grade levels improving while others declined. None of the grade levels surpassed their pre-pandemic performance.
The results within Austin ISD mirrored results statewide. Gains in math varied by grade, but performance in reading language arts (RLA) topped pre-pandemic levels.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a the results for grades 3-8 are encouraging.
“With RLA scores now surpassing pre-pandemic levels, we are seeing meaningful signs of academic recovery and progress," he said. "While this year also saw some improvements in math, clearly more work is needed.�
A higher percentage of Austin ISD elementary and middle school students met grade level in reading than the statewide average. When it comes to math, Austin ISD students were largely on par with the statewide results. The most significant gap was in seventh grade. The percentage of Austin ISD seventh graders who met grade level � 21% � was 10 points lower than the statewide average.
The scores for third through eighth grade come a week after results for high school students were released. Austin ISD families can find individual results for their children .
Middle schools facing turnaround plans lag behind
Student performance on STAAR tests is the primary way the state grades elementary and middle schools. If a campus gets too many failing grades in a row, the Texas Education Agency can get involved and potentially take over.
Austin ISD is grappling with how to improve student outcomes at three middle schools that have received consecutive failing grades. The school board is set to vote next week on turnaround plans for Burnet, Dobie and Webb, which require significant staffing and scheduling changes. The TEA must approve the plans.
While the TEA won't release the 2025 accountability grades until August, Austin ISD officials anticipate each campus will get another "F." That would put the district close to the threshold that triggers a state takeover.
Students at each of the three middle schools scored below the district average in math and reading.
At Burnet, for example, 9% of sixth graders met grade level in math, while the district average was 35%. The percentage of sixth, seventh and eighth graders meeting grade level in reading lagged at least 35 points behind the district average, too.
The percentage of Dobie students meeting grade level in math was also far below the district, with only 4% of sixth graders, 2% of seventh graders and 8% of eighth graders meeting that threshold. Dobie students scored higher in reading than in math, but there was still a major gap in the percentage of students meeting grade level when compared to the rest of the district.
Students at Webb saw similar STAAR results. The percentage of students meeting grade level in math was in the single digits for all three grades. Students did better in reading, but still scored well below the district average.
Families and educators at the middle schools have criticized the role STAAR plays in rating schools. All three campuses have high percentages of students who are economically disadvantaged and emergent bilingual, meaning they are fluent in at least one language and learning English. While students in , the tests are available only in English starting in sixth grade.
A bill to replace STAAR with three shorter tests taken throughout the school year died in this year's legislative session.
High schoolers gain in math but disparities remain
While elementary and middle school students largely saw improvement in reading, the same was not true in grades 9-12.
Austin ISD high school students and their peers statewide saw gains in math and science, but slight declines in English on the .
Forty-seven percent of Texas students met grade level on the Algebra I assessment this spring � up 2 points from last year. They saw even more improvement in biology, with 62% meeting grade level in 2025 compared with 57% in 2024.
Gabe Grantham, a policy adviser for , said while the gains in Algebra I are encouraging, the state still has a long way to go to get more students on grade level.
“We have more than half of our kids below grade level in Algebra I, which we know is a gatekeeping course that is used to predict things like postsecondary achievement and wages,� he said. “So when we have a situation where we have less than half of our kids meeting grade-level expectations, that’s just not setting them up for success in the long run.�
Although Austin ISD high schoolers also saw gains in math and science, achievement on both exams remains below pre-pandemic levels. Forty-three percent of students met grade level in Algebra I this spring, up 4 points from the previous year. Back in 2019, 69% met grade level.
That same year, 68% of Austin ISD high schoolers met grade level in biology. This year it was 63%, a 6-point increase from 2024. AISD saw no change from last year in how students did on the U.S. history exam, with 71% meeting grade level.
While Austin ISD high school students did not perform as well on the English I and II exams this spring, the decline for English I was just 1 percentage point. Fifty-one percent of students met grade level on English I in 2025 compared with 52% last spring. The drop for English II was a bit larger: 54% of students met grade level this year, down from 58% in 2024.
Still, Grantham said, the declines in English scores for Texas students is cause for concern.
“We had seen some really incredible growth post-COVID,� he said, “so seeing that slip is a little concerning and I think requires us to refocus some energy on making sure that kids are reading on grade level.�
Across all five end-of-course assessments, there were disparities in how different student groups within Austin ISD scored. A lower percentage of economically disadvantaged students met grade level than students who are not considered economically disadvantaged. Take, for example, student performance on the Algebra I assessment.
“When you look at the difference between students who are economically disadvantaged and not economically disadvantaged, you see a roughly 50-percentage-point gap and that is double what it was in 2019,� Grantham said.
There were similar gaps among students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Three-fourths of Asian students, 72% percent of white students and 62% of biracial or multiracial students met grade level on the Algebra I exam this spring. Meanwhile, 26% of Hispanic students and 17% of Black students met grade level on this assessment.
Grantham said while some high schools are getting good results, it’s not consistent across the district. He pointed out that at some Austin ISD high schools, only 10% of students met grade level on the Algebra I exam.
“At no point is anyone going to look at a school and say 10% is an OK number in terms of meeting grade level achievement in math,� he said.
Grantham said overall the numbers in Austin ISD and Texas show that too few students are prepared for life after high school.
“We believe that every student, once they graduate high school, should be prepared to either enter a career with some credential of value they have earned in high school or be able to enter into college without the need for remediation,� he said. “And so when looking at these numbers, we understand that we’re just not there yet.�
Grantham added that just trying to get back to pre-pandemic levels of achievement should not be the benchmark anymore.
“We have to move past this pre-pandemic benchmark and say, what does it look like for every kid to be graduating having met the standard set in math, science, history and reading,� he said.
