Tyler ISD passing rates on state accountability tests administered this spring showed the district trailed state passing rates in all categories, according to preliminary results released this week.

The district’s passing rates on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test ranged from 6 percentage points to 13 percentage points lower than state passing rates.

However, TISD’s passing rates improved slightly in four categories from last year, dropped in five categories and remained unchanged in two categories.

“There were some pockets of improvement and some areas we need to work on,” Tyler ISD Superintendent Marty Crawford said. “We realize and are confronting the facts (about) where we sit with the state. We’re putting a lot of emphasis with our principals to have high expectations to work on those gaps and will continue to do that.”

Crawford said he was disappointed in the rates that declined, especially since the district targets resources, personnel, programs and instructional times on specific needs.

“One day of testing does not make a true indication of a student’s total experience in school, but we certainly respect the data and utilize the data to make sure we are doing the right thing for students,” he said.

District gains were seen in seventh-grade reading, with 69 percent passing, an increase of 3 percentage points over last year, and fourth- and seventh-grade writing, both of which were up 4 percentage points over last year. Fourth-grade writing rates were 64 percent passing this year and seventh-grade writing saw 65 percent pass.

Eighth-grade social studies rates — 52 percent passing this year —  saw an increase of 2 percentage points over last year, but still remained well below the state average of 64 percent passing. .

The district saw dips in reading scores in four grade levels, the biggest in eighth-grade, which saw passing rates drop 7 percentage points from last year, to 77 percent.

TISD’s fifth-grade science rates also dropped, by 1 percentage point, to 59 percent passing, while eighth-grade science remained unchanged, at 58 percent passing. The district’s science scores lagged far behind the state’s passing rates of 72 percent and 70 percent for fifth- and eighth-grade, respectively.

All public school students statewide take the STAAR test, with different grade levels taking different subject area tests. No grade level has to take all of the tests in one year.

Results of math for third through eighth grade were excluded from this year’s state accountability system.

Twitter: @Betty_TMT