New STAAR scores show improvement in earliest grades

The amount of students meeting grade-level standards across all subjects in grades 3-8 increased slightly across the state of Texas, according to new data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Schools in Dallas County saw even greater growth in these grades, climbing two percentage points from 38% to 40% year-over-year.

“Yearly assessment data provide an important opportunity to identify what’s working, as well as where more support is needed,” said Commit Partnership President Miguel Solis. “By prioritizing pre-K enrollment and high-quality instructional materials, many of our school systems are seeing gains in the crucial subjects of third grade reading and math. But with less than half of students across the state meeting grade level standards, it’s clear there is still more work to be done.”

Early Grades See Greatest Growth

The ability to read in third grade has been shown to be a key predictor of future achievement in later grades and beyond. That’s why we’re encouraged to see a three-point growth in third grade reading across the state, moving from 46% of students meeting standards in 2024 to 49% today. Growth in Dallas County in this critical subject outpaced the state, with 43% of students now meeting grade level, up from 38% in 2024.

Third grade math also saw notable improvements statewide, with the percentage of students meeting state standards growing from 40% in 2024 to 44% in 2025. Here again, growth in this subject in Dallas County was even greater than the statewide average, rising five points from 35% to 40%.

This growth in our earliest grades is especially noteworthy because it follows several years of increased state investment in academic foundations, beginning with the passage of House Bill 3 in 2019. That bill created the Early Education Allotment, which expanded pre-K access for eligible 3- and 4-year-olds, and Reading Academies, which rooted early educators in the science of literacy acquisition. This year’s third grade test takers are among the first served almost entirely by Reading Academies certified educators.  

One school system that has seen a significant increase in early reading and math here in Dallas County is DeSoto ISD, growing third grade reading achievement by 12 percentage points year-over-year and third grade math by 16 points. This remarkable growth has been driven, in part, by an intense focus on student outcomes by the board of trustees, and bolstered by strategies such as high pre-K enrollment as well as the successful rollout of high-quality instructional materials

Dallas ISD should also be applauded for achieving a five-percentage point growth across all subjects in grades 3-8, the largest average increase of any traditional school system in the county. This similarly reflects a commitment to rigorous curricula bolstered by content-aligned coaching for educators and timely interventions for students in danger of falling behind.

Progress Slower In Later Grades

Progress, while slower, was also made in later grades. In math across grades 6-8, 38% of Texas students are meeting grade level standards, up two percentage points from 2024. This same growth rate was seen in Dallas County, where 34% of 6-8^th graders are now meeting state standards in math.

Thankfully, state leaders have continued to invest in strategies that promise to further drive these student outcomes, primarily through the historic House Bill 2, authored by Rep. Brad Buckley and sponsored by Sen. Brandon Creighton. This bill positions Texas to build on recent gains in our earliest grades by increasing the Early Education Allotment, providing K–2 literacy and numeracy screeners to identify learning gaps, expanding access to high-quality early intervention and encouraging educators to participate in Mathematics Achievement Academies. HB 2 also promises to better serve our older students by expanding the Additional Days School Year to middle schools.

Grades 3-8 & End-of-Course Exams: Putting It Together

This data for grades 3-8 follows the June 10 TEA release of student assessment data from STAAR end-of-course (or EOC) exams, which showed encouraging gains in the critical subject of Algebra I and Biology while also revealing declines in high school English and US History. Taken together, the percentage of Texas students meeting state standards across all tested grades and subjects grew one point in 2025. That same percentage grew two points, from 41% to 43%, in Dallas County.

At the Commit Partnership, we value the transparent, reliable student outcomes data that yearly summative assessments provide, and hold ourselves and our community accountable, in part, for seeing continued growth in the school systems we serve. Our educators should be celebrated for the academic growth they supported this past year. In the weeks and months to come, we’ll continue to dive into the data to see where our efforts are best spent next.