AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Texas students in grades 3 through 12 scored higher on state-issued reading and math tests in 2011, the last year the TAKS tests will be given.
The Texas Education Agency said Thursday that each grade has improved since the exams were first issued in 2003.
This year, 92 percent of high school seniors passed the four exit exams, compared to 89 percent in 2005. Since 2003, math scores have risen from 44 percent to 90 percent.
Scores for third-graders, the youngest to take the exams, also improved. Reading grades rose from 81 percent in 2003 to 89 percent this year.
Next year, students in grades 3 through 9 will take the new, more rigorous State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam. High school students will take TAKS tests.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)