Fifth Graders Officially Smarter

Bad news for Jeff Foxworthy: It just got harder to be Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. More HISD fifth graders passed the math section of the recently-administered TAKS test this year. Last year, only 74 percent of fifth graders passed the section, but this year 81 percent passed: still lower than the statewide average of 85 percent, but called a "tremendous improvement" by HISD Superintendant Abelardo Saavedra in a statement he released Tuesday.

HISD, like the rest of the state, still has a gap between the performance of white students and that of minorities, but the gap narrowed this year, even though the percentage of Anglo students who passed remained the same, at 94 percent. However, the number of African-American students who passed grew nine percentage points, and the numbers for Hispanics increased from 77 to 81 percent.

Passing the TAKS is required to graduate from fifth grade.