Texas 8th graders have 92 percent passing rate on reading exam

AUSTIN (AP) - Ninety-two percent of Texas 8th-graders have passed the reading part of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

The 8th-graders were required to pass the TAKS for the first time this year to be promoted, The 25,644 students who failed the standardized test will have two more chances to pass it to avoid repeating eighth grade.

All 8th-graders also must pass the TAKS math exam, to be given on April 8.

Texas Education Agency officials on Tuesday also released test results for third- and fifth-graders. Those are the other two groups of students who must pass the TAKS to be promoted. Eighty-eight percent of third-graders passed the TAKS reading exam, and 83 percent of fifth-graders passed, similar to last year's results.

By ethnic group, the passing rates for eighth-graders were 87 percent for black students, 89 percent for Hispanics, 96 percent for whites and 97 percent for Asian-Americans.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)