Texas lawmakers advance separate plans to eliminate STAAR test, adjust A-F system

The new tests would be norm-referenced, meaning a student’s performance would be compared to that of their peers, rather than being based only on the mastery of certain skills or information. The SAT, ACT and MAP tests are norm-referenced.

HB 4 would direct the TEA to adopt an existing third-party assessment that meets specific criteria, rather than developing its own exam, such as the STAAR. Students would begin taking those tests next school year, lawmakers said May 13.

“What we've done here is create something that's much more of a tool than a test,” Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, said on the House floor.

Another approach

Under the Senate’s proposal, Senate Bill 1962, the TEA would create a new set of state-owned exams, including a required end-of-year exam and optional tests to monitor student progress at the beginning and middle of the school year. The bill states that the new exams would be shorter than the current STAAR test with a goal of “reducing the assessment burden on students and school personnel.”

The TEA would have until the 2027-28 school year to begin administering the new assessment system under SB 1962. Students would continue taking the STAAR test until a new exam is available, according to the bill.

“[SB 1962] prohibits the overuse of benchmark exams and practice tests and returns valuable time to teachers to devote to classroom instruction,” bill author Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said during an April 1 hearing of the Senate Education Committee. “It involves current classroom teachers in the grading and [question-writing] process.”

State senators passed SB 1962 on April 16. The 31-member chamber’s 20 Republicans voted for the bill and the 11 Democrats voted against it.

Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said April 1 that he thought SB 1962 “has a lot of work that needs to be done.” West noted that portions of the bill would make it harder for school districts to challenge the A-F accountability system, which is largely based on STAAR performance.

“I think it’s fundamentally unfair, if school districts believe that there are issues with the accountability system, being stifled in their attempts to seek redress in order to ... get an accountability system that actually works,” West told the committee.

More details

The proposals would also adjust Texas’ school accountability system, which has been frequently criticized in recent years by parents, school leaders and some lawmakers. Over 100 school districts sued TEA Commissioner Mike Morath in August 2023, after he adjusted certain performance indicators that districts said would cause disproportionately lower ratings.

State law requires the TEA to update the system once every five years. The House proposal would require legislative approval for major changes to the A-F system and direct the TEA to finalize all rule changes by July 15 of each year.

“Districts need to know the rules before the year starts,” Buckley said on the House floor May 12.

Under HB 4, districts would have the option to adopt local accountability indicators that factor in things like workforce development programs, early childhood education and student participation in extracurriculars when measuring overall student success.

On the House floor, Rep Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, said HB 4 would “allow school districts to tell the TEA, ‘We have different kids who do different things, therefore we want to have input in terms of how we educate them.’”

“This bill ... level-sets our accountability system—not to a lesser one, but to a more fair one,” Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said May 12. “Parents and Texans across the state have lost faith in an accountability system that's just gone astray, and this is setting us back to fairness.”

SB 1962 would create a grant program to help districts develop local accountability systems, although that bill does not specify how those systems would work.

One more thing

Lawmakers are also attempting to tackle lawsuits that have stalled the accountability system.

A court case delayed A-F ratings for the 2022-23 school year for nearly two years, until a state appeals court authorized their release in early April. Ratings issued on April 24 showed campus performance declined statewide between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, with 43% of campuses earning lower ratings in 2023.

The TEA remains blocked from issuing ratings for the 2023-24 school year due to a separate lawsuit, which is pending in the state appeals court.

HB 4 would create an “expedited legal process” for future lawsuits challenging the A-F system, Buckley said. Meanwhile, SB 1962 would largely prevent school districts from challenging the TEA’s accountability ratings in court by “removing the grounds for challenging ratings,” Bettencourt said April 1.

Bettencourt called lawsuits against the A-F system “shameful,” accusing districts of “hiding behind lawsuits” to avoid low performance ratings.

“If [districts] did, in the future, have any kind of issue, what would be their recourse, instead of suing?” Sen. Adam Hinojosa, R-Corpus Christi, asked Bettencourt during the April 1 hearing.

Bettencourt said there would be “a way to go through protest in this revised system, but the hill is much steeper.” The TEA would have the authority to appoint a conservator to review lawsuits filed against the state and potentially oversee school districts’ operations, according to the Senate bill.