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STAAR Redesign and Its Impact to 2023 Accountability
The Texas Education Agency will be delaying the issuance of the final rule for the 2023 accountability manual and delaying the issuance of ratings to conduct further analyses of the growth data to inform cut scores for Domain 2A – Academic Growth and Domain 3 – Closing the Gaps. TEA anticipates the delay in the issuance of final rules and ratings by approximately the end of the month.
STAAR Redesign and Its Impact to A-F School Ratings
This past school year, students across the state of Texas were given a redesigned State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam. The biggest change was how students took the test. Instead of by pen and paper, it was given online in a digital format with students using electronic devices. On top of that, changes included the addition of 14 question types and written responses across all grade levels and content.
These changes alone, are significant, but when combined with the anticipated changes to the state’s accountability ratings and the A-F letter grade which is assigned to each campus, they play a key role in explaining a district's grade. Currently, elementary and middle school achievement scores are based on student STAAR performance, while high school achievement is measured in three areas: student’s readiness for college or career, STAAR assessments and graduation rates.
While the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has proposed changes to the A-F grading criteria that could impact Comfort ISD and individual campus letter grades, it recently delayed the release of the ratings by a month, and has not finalized the grading criteria.
The 2023 proposed accountability plan includes increased cut score expectations from the previous year when looking at both growth and high school College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) requirements.
It is important to note that Comfort ISD teachers and students adapted and prepared for these new additions and will continue to strive to focus on academic and student growth.
STAAR Redesign Review
- Administered only online to students in the third grade through high school.
- Included written responses on all assessments: reading language arts (RLA), science and social studies.
- Added 14 new interactive question types in all content areas, reducing the number of multiple-choice questions which previously had been the common question type.
Challenges with STAAR Redesign
Students as young as 8, in the third grade, faced the following challenges when it came to taking their first STAAR test this past year:
- Becoming familiar with online testing and the device on which to take the test,
- Typing responses while formulating sentences and paragraphs,
- Working within a timeframe, and
- Looking back and forth between computer/device and resources.
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