Texas families will get their next hard look at student achievement on July 31, when the Texas Education Agency releases spring 2026 STAAR science results for grades 5 and 8, the final piece of this year’s testing data and the first science scores measured fully against the revised science standards the state adopted in 2024.
The agency held the science results back from the mid-June release to complete a standard-setting process meant to ensure the updated content does not artificially raise or lower the difficulty of the exams, according to TEA and analysis from the nonpartisan group Texas 2036.
The science release lands against a mixed picture in the results already public. In the grades 3-8 data TEA published June 16, reading language arts performance exceeded pre-pandemic levels across every tested grade, but most math assessments in grades 3-8, along with Algebra I, remained below where they stood in 2019, according to reporting by The Texas Tribune.
Texas 2036 noted one bright spot in the pipeline toward advanced coursework: 32% of seventh graders took the eighth-grade math STAAR in spring 2026, roughly double the 16% who did so in 2023, expanding early access to higher-level math.
High school end-of-course results also improved. All five EOC subjects rose from 2025, with the largest gains in Biology and Algebra I, per TEA. In Biology, 71% of students met grade level in 2026, up from 63% in 2025 and 64% in 2019, according to Texas 2036. The agency said it was encouraged by the trajectory, while analysts flagged persistent weakness in math as the clearest signal that recovery remains uneven.
For a state that has staked its accountability system on measurable results, the science numbers matter beyond a single subject. Grade 5 and grade 8 science scores feed public reporting and, alongside math and reading, shape the campus and district picture that will surface again when TEA issues its A-F accountability ratings, expected in mid-August. Districts under state pressure to raise outcomes, including those facing intervention, will be judged in part on whether their students are gaining ground rather than holding steady.
Some of this year’s reading improvement, particularly in middle school, may be connected to the statewide school cellphone restriction that took effect for the 2025-26 year under House Bill 1481, an association Texas 2036 raised in its review of the results. The law requires districts to bar student use of personal communication devices during the school day, and TEA has tied $20 million in grants to help schools implement secure storage. Whether that correlation holds as more data arrives is one of the questions the coming releases may help answer.
The testing regime itself is changing. Under House Bill 8, Texas will retire the single year-end STAAR beginning in 2027-28 in favor of three shorter assessments spread across the year, designed to return faster feedback to teachers and parents. The Texas Dispatch has followed the state’s push to lift achievement through curriculum, accountability and assessment changes.
For now, the next verdict on how Texas students are doing arrives July 31, when the science scores post and the 2026 accountability picture nears completion.