Lubbock ISD presents mixed STAR benchmark results; officials flag on-level seventh-grade math as largest persistent concern

LUBBOCK — Lubbock ISD administrators told trustees March 12 that benchmark results ahead of the district’s statewide STAR tests are mixed and that on-level seventh-grade math is the district’s most persistent academic problem.

Kim Callison, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, reminded the board that the district’s “northstar” goal is 80% of students at the meets level by 2026 and walked trustees through grade-by-grade benchmark comparisons. She said third-grade reading is close to targets, fourth-grade math climbed compared with last year’s benchmark, and fifth-grade science requires targeted review because standards shifted.

Robin, who presented secondary data, identified on-level seventh-grade math as the single largest concern. “We are not making the progress that we hope to see,” she said, noting that the on-level cohort showed very low 'approaches' and 'meets' percentages. Staff cited three main contributors: higher scaled cut points in the assessment, a high proportion of inexperienced teachers assigned to on-level seventh-grade math (eight of 13 teachers have fewer than three years’ experience), and a heavier set of new standards in sixth and seventh grades that lengthen pacing.

Robin described multiple corrective steps the district is already deploying: targeted professional development days called “STEMscopes in action,” an expanded math-ambassadors program to build teacher leadership and buy-in, strategic coaching from central-office specialists, and the formation of a middle-school task force to consider summer programming and other interventions.

Trustees asked whether curriculum adoption (STEMscopes) was the root cause; staff replied that implementation and teacher experience, not the adopted materials, are the larger issues. “Curriculum is not a medicine we can take to cure an ailment,” Robin said, adding that implementation fidelity and addressing teacher experience matter more.

Staff emphasized that five weeks of instruction and planned “rock and review” windows remain before the STAR test and that some grades continue to trend above prior STAR results, but they said the seventh-grade on-level cohort requires focused resources and monitoring.

The board directed staff to continue the task-force work and report back with targeted measures and proposed interventions.