This week, Texas released the first round of State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) results for the 2024-25 school year, starting with high school End-of-Course (EOC) exams. Exam results for 3rd to 8th graders will be released next week, but the EOC scores show some encouraging gains in math and science, and that there is more work to be done in English.
STAAR TEST EXPLAINED: See how the STAAR test and how it’s changed in recent years
Students across the Houston region made strong progress on the Algebra 1 and Biology exams, but scores in English 1 and 2 declined in most districts. These results show mixed progress: while English scores remain above their pre-pandemic levels, the decline from last year to this year is a warning sign. At the same time, while Algebra 1 performance across Houston has yet to return to its 2019 highs, this year marked our region’s most significant step forward since the pandemic.
These Algebra 1 gains matter because it’s a critical on-ramp to higher-level coursework and long-term earning power.
Why This Matters
At Good Reason Houston, our goal is to put 45,000 additional students across the Houston region on a path to economic opportunity by 2028. Research from Good Reason Houston found that only 1-in-5 Houston-area 2017 high school graduates earned a living wage six years after high school. However, graduates who met grade-level standards on 8th-grade STAAR reading or took the Algebra 1 STAAR exam in eighth grade were more likely to earn a living wage than those who didn’t.
Pushing toward this ambitious goal means staying clear-eyed about what’s working and where we’re falling short, while we move forward with urgency. STAAR scores provide an important window into how well we’re doing at ensuring that every child from every neighborhood attends a world-class school.
What The Data Shows for the Houston Region
In 2025, Houston-area students were 6 percentage points more likely to meet grade level standards on both the Algebra 1 and Biology EOCs than in 2024. Houston ISD and YES Prep students, in particular, showed strong growth in math.
On the other hand, performance on the English 1 and 2 EOCs declined across the region from 2024 to 2025, with students being 2 percentage points less likely to meet grade level standards.
Algebra 1 is particularly important, as Good Reason Houston’s own work and the work of others across Texas highlight the crucial role that math preparation and access to advanced math pathways is to long-term success. This year’s strong growth in the percent of students meeting grade-level standards on the Algebra 1 EOC is an encouraging sign. This progress should not come at the expense of other core subjects, though, and we must continue to work to ensure the progress our students have made in reading since 2019 does not stagnate.
Looking at specific districts in our region, HISD was the only district to show growth on both the Algebra 1 and English 1/2 EOCs.
Algebra 1 is particularly important, as Good Reason Houston’s own work and the work of others across Texas highlight the crucial role that math preparation and access to advanced math pathways is to long-term success. This year’s strong growth in the percent of students meeting grade-level standards on the Algebra 1 EOC is an encouraging sign. This progress should not come at the expense of other core subjects, though, and we must continue to work to ensure the progress our students have made in reading since 2019 does not stagnate.
What the Data Shows for the Region’s Largest School District, Houston ISD
If we zoom into Houston ISD, the New Education System (NES) campuses continued to show progress in their second year following the state’s intervention. As Houston ISD moves closer to a return to local control, it’s crucial to understand the impact of the intervention so the district can maintain successful initiatives and adjust those that haven’t met expectations.
Much of HISD’s progress in 2025 was concentrated on NES campuses. Looking specifically at the schools that joined NES for the 2023-2024 school year:
- Algebra 1 growth: Students on NES campuses were 20 percentage points more likely to meet grade-level standards this year than last – a two-year improvement of nearly 30 points.
- Closing gaps: In 2022-23 – the year before the intervention – the gap between future NES schools’ and non-NES schools’ Algebra 1 scores was 26 points. This year, it narrowed to just 4 points.
It was noted above that HISD was the only district across the Houston region that saw growth on both Algebra 1 and the English 1/2 EOCs. All of HISD’s progress on the English exams happened at NES schools, while performance at non-NES schools was flat from 2024 to 2025.
Despite this continued progress, students at NES campuses remain less likely to meet grade level standards on their EOCs than those at non-NES campuses, especially on the English EOCs. These persistent performance differences demonstrate that work remains to ensure all students in HISD have equal access to the rigorous academic experiences that will lead to long-term economic opportunity.
Test Participation
When you see that much growth, it’s natural to wonder if it’s due to a change in the test-taking population, either in its composition or size, rather than actual improvement. For example, was the growth just the result of fewer students taking the test? Algebra 1 test-taking in Houston ISD dropped year-over-year in both 2024 and 2025, but a closer look shows that while the raw numbers have shifted, the share of students taking Algebra 1 – especially in middle school – is headed in the right direction:
- The post-pandemic years saw a surge in older students taking Algebra 1 later usual
- Now, as that surge passes, test-taking patterns are returning to normal – and any declines in test-taking have been outpaced by enrollment declines since 2019
- In middle schools, a larger share of 8th-graders are now taking Algebra 1 than in 2019.
Since 2019, the overall drop in Algebra 1 test-takers in HISD – at both middle and high schools – was actually significantly less than the overall enrollment decline over that same period. This was true for NES and non-NES campuses. In fact, the number of middle school students taking the Algebra 1 exam has dropped significantly less than 8th grade enrollment at schools offering Algebra 1 since 2019, indicating that a higher proportion of 8th graders were taking Algebra 1 in 2025 than before.
Where We Go From Here
The STAAR exam is just one tool, but it gives valuable insight into how well our schools are doing at providing students with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to achieve long-term success. Along with other assessments taken throughout the school year, such as NWEA MAP tests, they provide a rich window into student achievement across grade levels and student groups.
Though Houston-region schools showed progress this year, work remains to ensure opportunity is spread evenly across our city.
Next week we’ll look at how well our region’s school systems prepared 3rd through 8th graders on the STAAR exam. We’ll also share deeper analyses on outcomes by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic background. Looking at data in this way is essential to ensuring that all of our students are building the foundation they need to be on a trajectory for long-term success, no matter their background or neighborhood.
