Preliminary STAAR results indicate Dallas ISD students made academic gains across multiple grade levels, subjects and performance categories during the 2025-26 school year, according to a news release from Dallas ISD.
District leaders recently shared the results with the Board of Trustees, highlighting improvements not only on grade-level assessments, but also in several STAAR End-of-Course categories where students met or exceeded state averages, according to the release.
In a January report by People Newspapers, education expert Robin Berkley, Ann Kimball Johnson Director of Education at the George W. Bush Institute, explained that accountability systems help families and educators understand school performance and guide improvement.
“State tests, like STARR, are based on state standards, which articulate what students should know and be able to do in each subject area for each grade,” said Berkley. “The results of these tests are broken down across student groups — including by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, English-language learners, and special education students — and provide an apples-to-apples comparison of student performance by grade across school and district lines. Unlike report cards and teacher observations, assessments provide the only objective and comparable information about student performance.”
Across all tested subjects, 73% of students reached the Approaches grade-level standard, up from 69% a year earlier. The percentage of students performing at the Meets grade-level standard climbed six percentage points, from 44% to 50%, while those achieving the Masters standard increased from 19% to 23%, according to Dallas ISD.
Trustees praised the district’s continued academic progress.
“This is something to really be proud of — kudos to the leadership team for executing from top down,” Trustee Byron Sanders said in the release. “We’re innovating. We’re moving forward, and no one is resting on our laurels. We all see and notice this growth.”
The results suggest more students are not only passing state assessments, but also demonstrating a stronger grasp of grade-level material and readiness for future academic success, according to the district.
Districtwide reading and language arts scores improved across nearly every tested grade level, according to the release. Among the strongest gains were in seventh-grade reading, where students improved five percentage points at both the Approaches and Masters performance levels.
Math scores also trended upward. Overall mathematics performance rose four percentage points at the Approaches level, five points at Meets and two points at Masters, according to Dallas ISD.
Sixth-grade math recorded some of the district’s most significant gains, with Approaches scores increasing six percentage points and Meets scores rising seven points, according to the release.
Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde credited the board’s emphasis on academic achievement and said the district must continue building on its progress as scores undergo final review.
“It is this board’s unrelenting focus on academic achievement and high expectations that produced these results,” Elizalde said in the release. “It doesn’t matter their background; all means all. Kids can be successful. When we provide resources, our kids can perform at all levels of excellence.”
The results remain preliminary pending verification by the Texas Education Agency. Final STAAR results are expected at the end of July, with A-F accountability ratings scheduled for release in mid-August, according to Dallas ISD.
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