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PROJECT 04 / Data visualization / LIVE TOOL

ECR Outside In

Eight statewide essay-score distributions, read from the edge inward. Explore a grade, inspect the numbers behind the rings, and export a view to share.

Open the live tool ↗
ECR Outside In homepage showing all eight colorful statewide score-distribution dartboards, from Grade 3 through English II.
Eight statewide distributions

THE QUESTION

Can the shape of a score distribution make the numbers easier to understand?

What you can explore

  • Explore eight distributions: grades 3–8 and English I / II.
  • Inspect score counts, percentages, mean, median, and high-score share.
  • Open detailed score tables and export grade views as PNGs.

A deliberate choice

Map the share of students to ring area, not ring width. Score 0 sits at the outside; score 10 sits at the center. Keep the underlying table available for a second way to read the data.

What it is built on

Based on reported student counts in the 2026 Texas Assessment Research Portal ECR rating summaries. English I and English II include first-time testers only.

TRY A DATA PREVIEW / GRADE 3 · 2026

Read the shape.

Select a score to highlight its share of students. The outer ring is score 0; the center is score 10.

Score 0: 167,426 students (48.05%)Score 1: 24,039 students (6.90%)Score 2: 25,662 students (7.37%)Score 3: 18,926 students (5.43%)Score 4: 30,346 students (8.71%)Score 5: 23,977 students (6.88%)Score 6: 21,770 students (6.25%)Score 7: 20,118 students (5.77%)Score 8: 15,553 students (4.46%)Score 9: 520 students (0.15%)Score 10: 92 students (0.03%)
48.05%scored 0 out of 10167,426 of 348,429 students

Essay component only. Ring area represents student share. Portfolio rendering of data published in ECR Outside In ↗, which cites 2026 Texas Assessment Research Portal summaries.

KEEP IN VIEW

What this can’t tell you

This shows the essay component, not whole-test performance. Different prompts across grades mean the charts cannot establish why grade distributions differ.

This overview describes the public tool reviewed in September 2026. It does not claim measured classroom impact or independent evaluation of the project.

ANOTHER WAY INTO THE QUESTION

ECR Score Explorer →

Make the differences between writing scores visible. Compare anonymized student responses, examine writing moves, and connect what you notice to what to teach next.