HISD received some good news with the results of the Stanford 10 test:
More than 165,000 HISD students in grades 1 through 11 took the Stanford 10 test or its Spanish-language equivalent, the Aprenda, and they did better nearly across the board than most students around the country.
[snip]
HISD students not in Special Education at five grade levels-third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, seventh grade, and eleventh grade-beat that national average midrange ranking of 50 in all subject areas tested on the Stanford. In addition, first- and second-graders at HISD beat the national average in all but one of the subjects, and HISD eighth- and tenth-graders beat the national average in most subjects.
On average, HISD grade levels improved or at least held steady in their overall scores on the Stanford test this year compared to last year. For example, in reading, the scores for HISD students across six grade levels improved, while two grades held steady. In math, four grade levels improved their scores, while four grade levels held steady. More HISD grade levels made progress this year on their Stanford scores than declined.
For Spanish-speaking students at HISD, the news is even better: HISD’s scores on the Spanish-language Aprenda soared far above the national average in most cases.
I have said before that HISD is one of the nation’s better large urban districts. That’s not to say HISD doesn’t have challenges; we are all well aware of HISD’s shortcomings, but this is an outstanding achievement for HISD teachers, students and parents.
And I sincerely hope Jason Spencer can find the good in this news. It would be nice to end the school year on an upbeat note.
UPDATE: Here’s Jason Spencer’s story. It’s not quite as negative as I was expecting, but he does seek to compare the Stanford results to TAKS results. Whatever.
