For years, Lewisville ISD trustees have verbally taken issue with standardized testing, claiming most recently "standardized tests do not serve as an adequate predictor of the overall value of an education provided to students." At the April 15 board of trustees meeting, a resolution was passed by the board in support of proposed legislation regarding an audit and moratorium of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. STAAR, which was implemented in 2012, is a standardized test students begin taking in third grade. LISD has previously expressed concerns over STAAR grading errors and now expresses concern over STAAR readability levels. The district staff believe some of the assessment items have a readability level higher than the grade tested. In a board packet, district staff listed three studies that were done outside the Texas Education Agency. All three studies found concerns with the readability and text complexity of many of the reading passages. The resolution calls for legislative representatives to take the following actions this legislative session:
• Each assessment item must be evaluated by an independent group, including qualified educators with Texas teaching experience, for readability within the grade level assessed, and each assessment item of sufficient length must be separately evaluated for readability within the grade level assessed before being field tested by November. • Negative sanctions cannot be placed on students, campuses, or districts based on the results of the 2018-19 state assessments. • State assessments may not be administered during the 2019-2020 or any later school year unless they meet the readability standards outlined above. To read the full resolution, visit www.lisd.net.