Highland Park ISD has introduced a new tool to evaluate writing, and parents of fourth, seventh, and 11th graders will find out how their students performed on the exams later this week.
Students in those three grades took the WrAP, short for Writing Assessment Program, from ERB for the first time in October. Parents will be able to access students’ scores by the end of the day on Friday when they log in to their Skyward accounts.
WrAP is used by area private schools, but HPISD is the only public school in Texas where students take the assessment.
The exam provides HPISD with another tool to evaluate its success, deputy superintendent Shorr Heathcote explained during the Nov. 18 board of trustees meeting.
The test was given over two class periods. On the first day, students read and analyzed two informational passages and prepared a rough draft that responded to a prompt. On the second day, they edited and turned in their final draft.
All the tests were handwritten except for those from students with special accommodations, such as 504 plans, Heathcote said.
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Students’ writing was evaluated in six categories: overall development, organization, support, sentence structure, word choice, and mechanics. HPISD students performed best on average in word choice. Their lowest scores were given for support.
The maximum score for each category was 6, with Highland Park’s scores varying between 3.3 and 4.4. A score of 4 is closely aligned to mastery on the STAAR exam, Heathcote explained.
74% of HPISD fourth graders and 63% of seventh graders attained mastery on the 2025 English language arts STAAR exam.
“(The WrAP assessment) gives us a range to continue to grow,” Heathcote said. “Whereas STAAR doesn’t really show much opportunity for growth for our students.”
HPISD’s mean total raw scores were slightly lower than those from independent schools in fourth and seventh grade, and slightly higher in 11th grade.
“I’m excited,” board president Maryjane Bonfield said of the new metric. “I know we’ve done good work, and we’ve got more good work to keep doing.”
Also during the Nov. 18 meeting, the board of trustees:
- Reported that the Highland Park Education Foundation’s Lead for Tomorrow Campaign, which launched in 2021 with the goal of growing the Tartan Endowment by $40 million, will conclude early at the end of the year. Thanks to overwhelming community support, the foundation has already exceeded its fundraising goal. The Tartan Endowment will empower HPISD to increase teacher salaries and adapt to future challenges, and will support academics and activities at every campus. There’s still time to become a Lead for Tomorrow donor. Legacy funds start at $15,000, and anyone who establishes one by Dec. 31 will be permanently recognized on a donor wall in the Clements Leadership Center.
- Reviewed reports on test scores, professional development, the school experience survey which opened on Dec. 1 and will close on Dec. 19, and the academic calendar process.
