Students in Reading First Schools Make Large Gains
At the 2009 Advanced Coaching Institute, Dr. Kathy Stewart, director of Reading First at the Texas Education Agency, presented Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) data of Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI) cycle 1 students and of all Texas students from 2003 and 2008, as well as a brief overview of cycle 2 students from 2004 to 2008.
That information is presented in a series of graphs, which are presented and explained below.
Here is a quick guide to the graphs for cycle 1 students:
- The set of red and blue bars on left of the graphs for TRFI cycle 1 students represents the percentages of TRFI students who passed the TAKS for 2003 and 2008.
- The light-gray and dark-gray bars in the middle represent the percentages of non-TRFI students who passed the TAKS for 2003 and 2008.
- The set of yellow and green bars on the right represent the percentages for all Texas students passing the TAKS for 2003 and 2008.
For these data, we will focus on the percentages for TRFI and Texas state scores. We will discuss some cycle 2 students’ TAKS data after the cycle 1 graphs.
Graph 1’s percentages represent all grade 3, cycle 1 students and all grade 3 students in Texas who passed the TAKS. Grade 3, cycle 1 students who passed the TAKS increased 14 percentage points from 2003 to 2008 (77% in 2003 to 91% in 2008), while all Texas students who passed the TAKS increased 4 percentage points (84% in 2003 to 88% in 2008).
Graph 2 displays the data for those who meet the criteria for economically disadvantaged students. About 52% of all Texas students and 83% of TRFI students meet these criteria. Among economically disadvantaged students, cycle 1 students who passed the TAKS increased 15 percentage points from 2003 to 2008 (75% to 90%), while the passing rate of all Texas students in this category increased 5 percentage points (78% to 83%).
Hispanic students who passed the TAKS are represented in Graph 3. From 2003 to 2008, Hispanic grade 3, cycle 1 students who passed the TAKS increased 15 percentage points (from 76% to 91%), while all Hispanic grade 3 students in Texas who passed the TAKS increased 6 percentage points (78% to 84%).
Graph 4 represents African American students. African American students in TRFI cycle 1 who passed the TAKS increased 16 percentage points from 2003 to 2008 (72% to 88%), while all African American students in Texas who passed the TAKS increased 5 percentage points (77% in 2003 to 82% in 2008).
The Caucasian student data in Graph 5 show that for the TRFI cycle 1 students, passing rates increased 6 percentage points from 2003 (89%) to 2008 (95%), while the passing rate of all Texas Caucasian students increased 4 percentage points during the same time period, from 90% to 94%.
Graph 6 shows data for students who meet the criteria for limited English proficiency (LEP). The cycle 1 students who meet these criteria increased their TAKS passing rates from 69% in 2003 to 88% in 2008 (19 percentage points). The passing rate of all LEP students in Texas increased from 63% in 2003 to 75% in 2008 (12 percentage points).
Graph 7 displays the percentages of grade 3, cycle 2 students who passed the TAKS in 2004 (red bars) and 2008 (blue bars) for each demographic group discussed above. The TAKS passing rates for these students increased from 2004 to 2008 as follows:
- Economically disadvantaged students: 6 percentage points (84% to 90%)
- Hispanic students: 5 percentage points (85% to 90%)
- African American students: 10 percentage points (81% to 91%)
- Caucasian students 3 percentage points (93% to 96%)
- LEP students: 7 percentage points (82% to 89%)
Additional cycle 2 data is forthcoming.
It is notable that in every category, the percentages of students passing in TRFI campuses were higher than the state averages. Additionally, in 2008, more than 50% of the Reading First campuses were rated either “Exemplary” or “Recognized.” As Cycle 1 schools are nearing the end of Reading First funding, it is heartening to see these student gains. Congratulations!