TEA hits pause on ratings, but go on STAAR

Brian Higgins

Liberty High School was one of 9 FISD schools awarded recognition on College Board’s AP Honor Roll.

Frisco ISD sees the tests as parts of the whole puzzle, not showing the full picture of students’ academic abilities. 

“The data collected from the STAAR tests can be useful when used appropriately and accurately; we do not believe that STAAR test data tells the whole story of our students or our schools, much less our district,” FISD assistant director of communications  Meghan Cone said. “The amount of emphasis put on the STAAR test by the Texas Education Agency and the community is a misnomer and the STAAR test should not be used for these purposes.” 

Cone also pointed out that the test itself has flaws that make it difficult to use to provide an accurate picture of student growth. 

“It tests from the end of one school year to the end of the next school year which makes the teacher accountable for summer slide,” Cone said. “It also is not adaptive so it struggles to give accurate information about students above or below grade level.”

According to a TEA news release, instead of accountability purposes, the STAAR will work as an assessment of the grade level expectations of Texas students, with questions designed by subject matter experts and committees of Texas teachers to measure how well students have mastered knowledge and skills in various grades and subjects. 

Though junior Kendyl Korth agrees with Ogola that the test is unnecessary, she sources its ineffectiveness to the STAAR being too easy, as opposed to it hurting those who don’t perform well on standardized tests. 

“I don’t think the staar test accurately measures a students academic performance because the material on the staar test is very easy and mostly topics we have covered for years,” Korth said. “I think a better alternative would be for specific classes to assign their own final exams and projects.” 

Finals or any district-produced test would not be able to replace the STAAR, however, as federal law requires a statewide standardized test, according to Cone. FISD also opposes implementing finals in an attempt to collect more holistic data. 

“We believe that we provide enough assessments to students throughout the year to gather a full picture of student understanding of the required curriculum and do not need a final exam to provide such data,” she said. “Between the SAT, ACT, AP exams, TSI, ASVAB and others, our students have enough exposure to high-stakes examinations to be successful once they graduate from FISD.” 

The TEA sees value in A-F ratings, but COVID-19 proved to be too disruptive to utilize the STAAR for accountability purposes to support student academic growth. 

“The issuance of A-F ratings for schools has proven to be a valuable tool to support continuous improvement for our students, allowing educators, parents, and the general public to better identify and expand efforts that are working for kids,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said via the news release. But the pandemic has disrupted school operations in fundamental ways that have often been outside the control of our school leaders, making it far more difficult to use these ratings as a tool to support student academic growth.” 

This led the TEA to decide to not issue A-F ratings for the 2020-21 school year, but instead will use the test to see how students are performing and how COVID-19 has impacted learning. 

“The last nine months have been some of the most disruptive of our lives,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said via the news release. “The challenges have been especially pronounced for our parents, teachers, and students. We continue to prioritize the health and safety of students, teachers, and staff in our schools this year, while working to ensure students grow academically.”