STAAR

By Melissa Kanz

The Highlander

It wasn’t what local school officials wanted to hear as the Marble Falls Independent School District fell short of its goal, receiving a 64 percent rating on secondary readiness. 

The high school, however, did gain academic distinctions in ELA/Reading, math, science and social studies.

Superintendent Dr. Chris Allen explained there are only 25 districts, out of thousands in the state, that receive this distinction.

“Am I happy with these results, no, but I believe we are generally on the right track,” he said.

The good news is SAT scores surpassed the statewide average. 

Distinctions awarded to Marble Falls High School were Academic Achievements in ELA/Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Also awarded was Postsecondary Readiness.

Marble Falls Middle School was awarded Academic Achievement in Science.

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Eight Marble Falls High School students affected by a computer glitch while taking the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test on March 29 will not have to re-take the high stakes test, a Marble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) official confirmed on Thursday, April 7.

“Ultimately, all the answers were recovered,” said Wes Cunningham, Ph.D., assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

District officials maintained a “cautious optimism” since the problem happened after Texas Education Administration (TEA) officials said it was possible answers were stored on either TEA or Educational Testing Service (ETS) computer servers, Cunningham said on March 31.

ETS is the vendor that administers the tests.

The MFISD students at different grade levels were taking the computer-based

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Eight Marble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) students, and an unknown number of Burnet Consolidated Independent School District (BCISD) students, joined hundreds of others across the state when they encountered a computer glitch while taking the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test on Tuesday, March 29, said MFISD officials on March 31.

The MFISD students at different grade levels were taking the computer-based

STAAR A (or “accommodated” version) test in several different subjects when their answers on the online tests stopped appearing.