What you need to know
Similar to House Bill 4, a bipartisan bill that died during Texas' regular legislative session, Senate Bill 8 would replace the STAAR test with three shorter exams given at the start, middle and end of the school year. It was authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and was discussed in the Texas Senate Education Committee during an Aug. 6 hearing.
The bill also proposes:
- Delivery of test results within 48 hours
- Elimination of "excessive" benchmark testing
- Adjustments to Texas' A-F accountability system
- Prohibition of most taxpayer-funded lawsuits to challenge the accountability system
Bettencourt said his proposal comes from a place of wanting to provide educators, students and their families with actionable data throughout the school year, rather than waiting several months for the release of STAAR results, as well as enhanced transparency and clarity for measures of student success.
"What gets measured gets fixed, and if the people involved in the process—the student, the teacher and everyone else—can see those results, have them fed back to them quickly, I think it's going to enable teachers to teach the students and not teach to the test," he said.
The details
SB 8 would phase out the STAAR, replacing it with a new testing system focused on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, Bettencourt said during the Aug. 6 hearing. He told the committee that the proposed test would be implemented in the 2027-28 school year, with field testing and development of the new system in the 2026-27 school year.
The changes would include moving to an adaptive item-level test for beginning and mid-year tests, with a criterion-based test at the end of the year, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said Aug. 6. The tests would be created by the Texas Education Agency, he said.
Adaptive item-level tests adjust the difficulty of questions in real-time based on the test taker's responses, Morath said, like a choose-your-own adventure game or book.
"A student answers a question and depending upon whether they get the question right or wrong, that can change the next question they get," Morath said. "What that allows you to do is keep a test short and go much deeper on what the student knows or does not know."
The other type of exam mentioned, criterion-based tests, measure student performance against a set of criteria, rather than comparing them to other students, which is what a norm-referenced test does, Morath said. He said components of both types of output will factor into the final version of the end-of-year test, so students and families can measure how well they have mastered content as well as how much they have improved in comparison to peers.
A committee of teachers would approve the test questions, with a two-thirds majority required for any test questions to be used, he said.
Also of note
In addition to providing "a more instructionally-supportive testing option," the bill would make updates to the school accountability system. This includes a potential ban on the use of taxpayer dollars for lawsuits related to the accountability system, Bettencourt said Aug. 6, and would channel such disputes through legislative oversight instead.
The bill would require committees with jurisdiction over the TEA to create a system through legislative transparency, direct involvement and adherence to administrative processes, including:
- The establishment of an Accountability Advisory Committee to advise the commissioner on the modification and adoption of accountability and performance standards
- A requirement that schools exhaust legislative and administrative options for challenges, and that challenges must be brought within six months of adoption for new rules
One of the changes proposed would require the TEA to establish performance standards for an upcoming school year by July 15. If performance standards are not set by that date, ratings for that school year would be based on the standards established for the prior school year.
Other proposed changes include an established refresh schedule on a five-year cycle; updates to college, career and military readiness criteria; and revisions to how student growth is measured.
What they're saying
Kate Greer, a representative of nonpartisan advocacy organization Texas 2036, testified in favor of the bill Aug. 6, highlighting its role in modernizing the accountability system while maintaining the quality of measures taken.
"SB 8 represents a major step forward for Texas students, families and educators by repealing the STAR exam and replacing it with an assessment system that better supports classroom instruction and strengthens parent understanding," Greer said.
As for the role of any assessment in determining accountability ratings, Rachael Abell, vice president of the Texas Parent-Teacher Association, said the system needs continued refinement. Reforming the test without adjusting how it's used in ratings will not fix the pressure schools are under, she said.
"As it stands, this bill isn't a win for students, teachers, parents or even legislators," Abell said. "We want this reform effort to succeed, but in its current form, we believe it will not result in the outcomes we all desire."
What's next?
The education committee unanimously voted to send SB 8 to the Senate floor Aug. 6, although the full chamber had not considered the bill as of press time.
