AUSTIN, Texas — It’s federally mandated to test every student every year. In Texas, students take the STAAR test to see how they measure up to the state standards. But controversy has surrounded the test for years, and now it's a topic on the campaign trail.
On Tuesday, education leaders shared some new policy recommendations for Texas lawmakers. The Measure What Matters Assessment and Accountability Council spoke with thousands of Texans to come up with the suggestions.
Currently, elementary and middle schools are rated on an A-F scale based solely on how students perform on the STAAR test. Advocates say that oversimplifies the important work that schools do.
“One test on one day cannot capture all the work that’s happening on our elementary and middle school campuses,” said Kaylan Smith, the regional advocacy director in Dallas County for Raise Your Hand Texas.
Dr. Kelli Moulton, the executive superintendent and council chair of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), recommends that STAAR test results only make up 50% of the school accountability ratings instead of 100%.
“A new accountability system should measure programming such as fine arts, extracurricular offerings, dual language programs, as well as chronic absenteeism, student safety and teacher quality,” said Dr. Moulton.
But not everyone agrees. Mary Lynn Pruneda, the senior policy adviser for education with Texas 2036, said evaluating K-8 schools beyond how students test in core subjects like reading and math could create inequities since campuses don’t always have the same extracurricular offerings.
“You could have districts that are held to the highest standards that, you know, affluent districts are being held to, and they just don’t have the resources or the funding to support that,” Pruneda said.
The STAAR test provides data to stakeholders and lawmakers that can be used to make decisions about Texas' education system. Per data from Texas 2036, only 52% of students in Texas can read on grade level and only 40% can do math on grade level.
"We've got to do more," Pruneda said. "But a lot of times, instead of asking the really complicated and hard questions of 'What are the ways that we can resource our schools? What are the ways that we can support our teachers? How can we invest in higher quality curriculum and other instructional materials?' We just say, 'Hey, we think there's a problem with the measurement.' No matter how many scientific studies, no matter how many times we validate over and over again the reliability of the STAAR exam, it seems to be the boogieman. When what's actually the boogieman is we just need to do a better job of supporting our schools and investing in our teachers."
STAAR testing has become a hot topic on the campaign trail. Gov. Greg Abbott did not respond to a request for comment, but his Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke is telling voters he’ll squash it altogether.
“Cancel the damn STAAR test so you can focus on those kids in front of you,” O’Rourke said at a recent rally in Austin.
Although this was met with cheers, Texas can’t cancel the STAAR test because of the federal testing requirements.
“If we did not have statewide and national assessments, we would have no idea how Texas students are performing in the classroom and relative to other states,” Pruneda said.
O’Rourke’s team clarified that the candidate would like to see some changes with the test and cancel the excess ones. Only three of the tests could be scrubbed because they are state mandated. The rest would still be required under the federal mandate.
“Texas, right now, is providing tests that they don’t need to according to federal requirements. So we can reduce some of the tests at the eighth-grade level and high school level,” said Bob Popinski, the senior director of policy with Raise Your Hand Texas.
Both sides will be able to provide policy recommendations to lawmakers in January when the next session begins.