Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 4:00 am | Updated: 7:20 am, Tue Jun 26, 2012.

The Longview Independent School District students fared better than students across the state in English, reading and writing and matched their peers on biology during their first venture with the newly-implemented State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test.

Monday, the district released results from the test.

While district eighth and ninth grade students did comparatively well in English and biology, LISD students lagged behind statewide passing rates for Algebra I and world geography.

All high school freshmen took the tests, as did eighth grade students who are taking ninth-grade level classes.

Rebecca Cooper, director of resources, planning and accountability for the district, said that the STAAR tests focus on fewer skills than the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills but expects students to have a more in-depth knowledge of the subject matter.

Texas is phasing out the TAKS and implementing STAAR.

The focus areas are clearer, fewer and deeper, Cooper said. These tests are more linked to college readiness than TAKS tests are.

For the five STAAR tests linked to typical freshman year classes, the overall passing percentages for Longview ISD were: English I reading, 72 percent; English I writing, 58 percent; Algebra I, 80 percent; biology, 87 percent; and world geography, 75 percent.

Statewide results showed ninth-grade passing rates ranged from 87 percent on the biology test to 55 percent on the English I writing test.

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LISD releases STAAR results