Houston ISD students doing worse in reading performance, STAAR test results show

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The results from the latest STAAR exams are out, and Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles is talking about his students' performance.

The results are disappointing, he says, but not surprising.

Overall, while students third through eighth grade across the state performed slightly better on the redesigned, all-online STAAR test, HISD students overall did not improve, and in fact, saw lower scores in reading.

ABC13 asked Miles what surprised him about the results, if anything.

"There's still a sense of urgency. The results didn't change that, in fact, they kind of confirmed that we should be urgent. They confirmed that we should be bold, they confirmed that the future is already here, and our kids are not ready for that," he said.

Miles was also asked about the giant achievement gap. Black HISD students are about 40 percentage points behind white HISD students, with Hispanic students about 35% behind, and socio-economically disadvantaged students about 35% behind wealthier students.

"That's too big a gap, and that's been the gap at HISD for a long time. We can't keep doing the same things and hope the achievement gap will go away," he said.

Finally, among other things, Miles was asked during Thursday's press conference about how he plans to win over the many parents who seem skeptical of his plans to overhaul some of HISD's programs and procedures.

"Parents are usually won over not by anything the superintendent says. They're won over by what's happening in the school with their kid. That's when you win them over," he said.

The superintendent says when the state does it's accountability ratings for HISD, he expects 50 to 55 schools to receive a D or F grade, which he also says would not surprise him.