SOUR LAKE, Texas — With the recent unveiling of STAAR testing scores, Hardin Jefferson ISD was one of the few districts that received high marks across the board. Assistant Superintendent Steven Cox says that there is no secret to how students scored so well.
Cox is crediting the success to the hard work of faculty and the students themselves.
"This isn't something new, we've always done well on STAAR testing," said Cox.
For students attending Hardin-Jefferson ISD, excelling at STAAR testing is nothing new.
However, the district took things a step further when they surpassed other districts statewide in all subjects.
"We are better than the state in every one of our STAAR tested areas. The math, science, reading language arts, and history," said Cox.
12News learned that 5th grade science was a trouble area for districts including BISD.
12News asked Cox what was the secret for almost 3 thousand students scoring so highly.
"There there's not really a secret. We just ensure that our curriculum is followed with the fidelity and we teach to the TEKS we don't teach to a test," Cox said.
Cox says along with other districts, the AI grading was a learning curve for their students.
"I personally don't agree that AI should be grading our students essays, our student responses," Said Cox.
He says that the district has utilized intervention strategies to meet students where they are academically.
They pull out the students who have weaknesses in areas like reading and math. We work in small group," Cox said.
Cox says they don't plan on simply riding this high. With the upcoming school year just two weeks away, they plan to work even harder.
"That's what we're going to be doing over the next week is looking at last year's data, breaking down where our students weaknesses are," said Cox.
Cox says while they did good on 5th grade science, the subject is one of the areas that they plan to work on when students return August 14.
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