Cy-Fair ISD administrators and teachers have been attending extra training sessions and adjusting the district's curriculum to assure students are ready for the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam this spring.
Students in third–eighth grades will be tested on subject matter similar to material from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the state's last standardized test. The main difference between the two exams will impact high school students, who are now required to take end-of-course exams in each core subject, which will also count as 15 percent of the final class grade.
However, a decision made in late February by Robert Scott, the state's commissioner of education, gave school districts the authority to revoke the 15-percent rule for the 2011-12 academic year.
"The commissioner felt like students deserved a reprieve similar to the one school districts received during this transitional year, since accountability ratings are suspended one year," said Suzanne Marchman, spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency.
CFISD administrators are recommending the district defer the implementation this year because little information about the STAAR grading scale has been released, said Mary Jadloski, assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum and instruction.
"We don't know how many questions the student will have to get right to meet the performance standard of passing," she said. "We feel like parents and students need to know exactly what the passing standard will be before we require it be part of the course grade."
It has been nearly a decade since CFISD switched standardized tests, so preparing for STAAR has been somewhat different, according to Jadloski.
"[STAAR] is much more aligned with the curriculum, so what the students are studying is the content students will be tested on, so that's a positive change," she said. "I think the thing that's difficult is that we don't have a lot of specific information, just a limited number of sample questions, and the rigor is significantly higher than the TAKS."
Although it will cost the state about $94 million to administer the STAAR exam, CFISD has not pinpointed an increased cost to the district.
"There are a great many more testing days required, so our staff does have extra work to do," Jadloski said. "We have provided extra coaches to our campuses so the day-to-day instruction is strong and focused on student success."
Since the new passing standards will not be released until later this spring, districts have not received much information to share with community members.
"We struggle with that because we want to be clear with parents and students as to what the expectations and standards are," Jadloski said.
Several committees of teachers who have met over the past month are responsible for determining the general areas of passing standards for the STAAR exam, which are approved by Scott before being released to the districts.
