STAAR Testing to Begin in Spring 2012

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Students will take the new assessment, STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness), which will replace TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) as the state’s academic measuring system this spring.

STAAR will be more rigorous than TAKS and will place a greater emphasis on alignment to college and career readiness. Students in Grades 3-8 will be required to take STAAR and will be tested in the same subject areas as they were with the TAKS test. High school students will be required to take 12 end-of-course (EOC) assessments in the four foundation content areas – mathematics, science, social studies and English. This year, the new EOC assessments will be given to ninth grade students. Students in Grades 10-12 will continue to take TAKS to meet their graduation requirements. High school students will have to score satisfactorily on the EOC assessments in order to graduate. The 12 EOC assessments at the high school level will be: Algebra 1-2, geometry, English 1-3, world geography, world history, United States history, biology, chemistry and physics.

Unlike the TAKS assessments, the state will place a time limit on how long students will have to take the STAAR test. The TAKS tests were untimed so students could literally work all day to complete the tests. This year students will have four hours to complete each STAAR test. Students will also be required to do more expository or nonfiction reading and writing on theses assessments.

Students will not be able to pass these assessments through test-taking strategies alone. They must be able to read and write expository texts and think critically. Teachers are being trained to understand the new requirements and how instructional rigor must increase to prepare students to be successful.

Because STAAR is being implemented for the first time, the Texas Education Agency will suspend accountability ratings for the 2011-12 school year. Campuses will keep their AEIS ratings of Acceptable, Recognized or Exemplary from the 2010-11 school year for two years. TEA will use the 2011-12 school year to put new indicators in place, and work on the system throughout the year so that accountability standards can be in place for the 2012-13 school year.

While State accountability ratings will be suspended this coming school year, the Federal accountability standards will remain in effect. The No Child Left Behind standards will increase this year. Reading standards will increase by 7% from the 2010-2011 standards (up to 87% of all students passing), while mathematics standards will increase by 8% from the 2010-2011 standards (up to 83% of all students passing). This means that 87% of all students and each identified student group must pass to meet the standards. Campuses and the district will receive the rating of met Adequate Yearly Requirements (AYP) or did not meet Adequate Yearly Requirements. These standards will continue to increase each year until the percentages for both reading and math reach 100% by 2014.

What can parents do to support students for the new assessment? Parents can work with their children and their teachers to ensure that students are reading and writing as part of their homework assignments. Parents can have students read to them each day and practice vocabulary and math facts to support the class work each day.