STAAR Testing Begins Monday, March 31

STAAR Testing Begins Monday, March 31
Posted on 03/30/2014
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As required by the Texas Education Agency, students in grades 3 through 12 are required to participate in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) program. The program is designed to assess progress and ensure that students are on track for graduation and/or college and careers.

STAAR assessments for elementary and middle school students will continue to cover the same subjects as the previous testing program, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). For high school students, however, grade-specific assessments have been replaced with 12 end-of-course exams in the following subjects:

English I, II (Reading and Writing)

Algebra I

Biology

U.S. History

House Bill 5, which was passed by the 82 Texas Legislature trimmed the end-of-course requirements from 15 assessments to five assessments which cover the core subject areas.

For students to graduate, they must pass the end-of-course assessments for all the courses they are enrolled.

Students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year will be the first to take the 12 end-of-course assessments. All other students currently enrolled in high school will continue to take the TAKS test until graduation.

Under the new STAAR tests, students will be subjected to a time limit of four hours unless the student is eligible for an accommodation. Campuses and districts will no longer be rated Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable and Unacceptable. With the STAAR, all will be rated either Acceptable or Unacceptable.

For more information on STAAR, including sample questions and resources for special accommodations, click  HERE to go to our parent page