End-of-course exam results provide opportunity to align on best practices

Today, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released the Family & Research Portals for parents and community members to view results on End-of-Course (EOC) exams (EOCs) in school systems across the state for the 2024-25 school year. Notably, both across the state and in many Dallas County school systems, students experienced growth in the critical subject of Algebra I.

“Every year, the release of statewide assessment data provides us with a crucial moment to reflect, celebrate growth and think critically about where we need to direct our resources,” said Miguel Solis, President of the Commit Partnership. “It’s clear that an intentional effort on the part of both state policymakers and district leaders to rethink our approach to secondary math education is beginning to produce results, and I’m excited to see what else our school systems accomplish as we continue to support them in scaling best practices.”

Out of 14 traditional public school districts in Dallas County, eight increased the percentage of students meeting grade level in this critical course, and of those, seven experienced growth greater than the statewide average of 2%. We were grateful to work alongside many of these districts – including Desoto, Lancaster and Grand Prairie – as part of our Math Learning Series throughout this school year.

This growth takes place in the context of school system efforts to implement SB 2124, passed in 2023, which places more students on an advanced math pathway. Research demonstrates that students who complete this course in 8^th grade are more likely to enroll and persist in postsecondary education, which is itself linked to future wage-earning ability. Notably, Garland ISD grew the percentage of students meeting state standards in Algebra by one percentage point even as they increased 8th grade enrollment in the subject by 20%.

Elsewhere, students on average both statewide and in Dallas County experienced slight declines in English I and II as well as U.S. History. The latter is particularly notable as lawmakers considered ending the U.S. History EOC as part of an assessment and accountability reform package which ultimately was unsuccessful.

Assessment data provides a voice for our students, and we’re excited for each of the opportunities to hear from them these scores represent. Next week marks the release of results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (or STAAR) for grades 3-8, and another chance to hear from our young people about how they are being served by our public education system.