Posted on May 20, 2005

The Results are In: Fewer Pass TAKS

Jason Spencer, Houston Chronicle, May 19

The percentage of Houston ISD students passing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills dropped for every grade level under this year’s tougher standards, the school district announced Wednesday.

Houston’s black and Hispanic students struggled the most as the gap separating the passing rates for those students and whites grew larger. While 62 percent of the Houston Independent School District’s white 10th-graders passed all four subjects tested on the TAKS, only 17 percent of blacks and 19 percent of Hispanics achieved the minimum standard.

Although 30- to 40-point differences in the passing rates achieved by white and minority students are common in HISD at most grade levels, this year’s gap is larger than last year.

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Hispanics account for 59 percent of HISD’s 209,000 students, blacks make up 30 percent and whites 9 percent.

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