The Georgetown ISD school board is expected to take action March 26 on whether or not to defer a requirement that ninth grader's scores on the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam count toward 15 percent of their final grade.
"The problem is the test has never been given, and we don't know how well our students are going to perform, and the [Texas Education] Agency hasn't published the passing standards yet, so we are kind of going into this blind," GISD Assessment Director Becky McCoy said. "Having a year at least to examine student results, determine if our conversion chart for taking a scaled score to a numerical 0–100 grade is fair and appropriate, it just gives us more time to make good decisions for kids and do what's best for students."
The option to defer for one year became available after Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott announced he would defer the requirement for the 2011–12 school year only, and districts could chose to take advantage of the deferment.
"I will definitely recommend that we defer the 15 percent requirement for this school year," Deputy Superintendent Brenda Albright said in statement.
The 15 percent weighted score has been considered controversial by some because there is no consistent measure to determine a numerical grade from the rating system, McCoy said.
"Every school district will determine how that is done," McCoy said. "There has been so much controversy and even the Legislature backtracking and saying we have a year to study this—who knows what the future holds for the 15 percent requirement,"
McCoy said presentations from a parent forum on the STAAR Testing held Feb. 28 will soon be available on the school district's website.
A news release from the district said that according to TEA, the STAAR test will be more rigorous with greater item complexity to reflect the goal of better preparing students for college and career readiness. The length of the test will increase, and the the test will be timed. Some of the other changes in STAAR include:
More critical analysis in reading
Additional open-ended (griddable) items in math and science
Students will write two essays instead of one
Performance will be measured in Unsatisfactory (I), Satisfactory (II), and Advanced (III)
Reading: Grades 3-8
Mathematics: Grades 3-8
Writing: Grades 4 and 7
Science: Grades 5 and 8
Social studies: Grade 8
End-of-course assessments for first-time ninth graders beginning in 2011-12:
English I, English II, English III
Algebra I, geometry, algebra II
Biology, chemistry, physics
World geography, U.S. history, world history
