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FORT WORTH — Forty-one percent of Fort Worth eighth-graders failed the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills — an exam they must pass to be promoted to ninth grade.
But the number of eighth-graders who didn’t pass on the first try is down 5 percentage points from last year, when 46 percent, or 2,200, students didn’t pass.
“It’s a statistically significant gain,” Superintendent Melody Johnson said.
At 47 percent, Everman schools’ failure rate was higher.
Both districts fared worse than the state as a whole, according to figures released Tuesday.
Twenty-five percent of Texas eighth-graders didn’t pass the test on the first try, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Eighth-grade passing rates are critical because this is the first year that the state requires middle school students to pass the math and reading TAKS to be promoted.
They have three chances to pass.
Some 309,822 eighth-graders across Texas took the math test April 8.
“A majority of our fifth- and eighth-grade students deserve our congratulations because they have met this important promotion requirement, but clearly we have more work to do to help all students pass the math exam,” Education Commissioner Robert Scott said in a statement Tuesday.
Northeast Tarrant results
Districts in Northeast Tarrant followed similar trends as the state’s, with most holding steady or showing slight decreases in fifth-grade math and all districts showing improvement in the eighth grade. All districts’ rates were higher than the state averages.
“We’re pleased with the progress that we’re seeing,” said Mark Thomas, a spokesman for the Birdville school district, which saw an 8-percentage-point jump to 76 percent on the passing rate for eighth-grade math. “That is one of the areas of concentration for us, math and science.”
The Keller district also saw an 8-percentage-point increase in eighth-grade math.

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