Spring 2022 STAAR Results Show Improvements Since COVID-19
Strong gains for Reading Language Arts
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released spring 2022 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) results for Grades 3-8 and end-of-course (EOC) tests, showing gains in many grades and subjects from the previous year.
STAAR results for Grades 3-8, which include exams in mathematics and reading for grades 3–8, 5th and 8th grade science, and 8th grade social studies, showed across-the-board improvements in all grades and subjects from 2021, with significant gains in reading.
STAAR EOC results showed progress in the three tests that saw a decline during COVID-19. In these three tests, Algebra I, Biology, and U.S. History, Texas student performance in the “meets grade level” category improved. In the two tests that did not show a negative impact from COVID-19, English I and English II, results stayed largely consistent from last school year.
After two years of pandemic-related disruptions, this year’s STAAR results are more important than ever and reflect the investment of teachers and high-quality instructional practices that are helping students make gains in their academic recovery from COVID-19. STAAR results give teachers and families a clear picture of how students are performing academically so that students receive the support they need.
STAAR is just one of many ways to measure student learning – it isn’t meant to tell the whole story but should be considered with other measures like personal observations, teacher feedback, and grades to give families and teachers a more complete picture of students’ academic progress.
Parents can log-in and learn more about their child’s results by visiting the Texas Assessment website.
Texas Teachers Prepare for a Redesigned Summative Test
New question types will reflect high-quality instructional practices
Beginning with the spring 2023 summative administrations, non-multiple-choice questions that reflect the types of questions asked by educators in classrooms will be included on STAAR. The new question types were developed with input from teachers, students, and a wide range of educational stakeholders and assessment experts. TEA then field tested these new question types to verify their ability to accurately and reliably measure students’ understanding of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Hear what teachers have to say about the new STAAR test and the new item types.
Teachers and parents can see preliminary blueprints that show how each test will be organized with the addition of new question types. During the summer, or when students return to school in the fall, they can practice using the new question types in the online testing platform.
Texas Schools Demonstrate Readiness for STAAR Online Testing
2022 Spring STAAR Administration shows state’s online testing capabilities.
House Bill (HB) 3261, enacted by the 87th Texas Legislature in 2021, requires state summative assessments to be administered fully online by the 2022–23 school year. This transition will require nearly all students to be assessed online, with the exceptions of students who cannot access the online platform or require an accommodation that can only be provided on paper.
Over the past two years, school districts across the state have been evaluating their needs and planning for the transition to online testing for STAAR. During the spring 2022 STAAR administrations, nearly 90 percent of students in grades 3–8 took the STAAR test online and 85 percent of high school students took their STAAR EOC tests online.
During the administrations, there were two consecutive days when more than 1 million students were testing online concurrently, without any interruptions to the student testing experience. This is a strong indication that almost all school districts are ready for the transition to full, online testing. A plan is in place to create an Online Transition Advisory Committee this fall to assist districts who still may be facing challenges and help them with solutions.
School districts can provide students with opportunities to become familiar with the online testing platform through the optional Beginning-of-Year assessments, STAAR Interim assessments, tests created using Texas Formative Assessment Resource (TFAR), and select tests from high-quality instructional materials that have been added to the online platform. Educators, families, and students can also take practice tests online to become familiar with the accessibility and accommodation features.
Measuring National Long-Term Academic Trends
NAEP to focus on reading and math this fall.
To continue understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s educational system, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will administer the Long-Term Trend (LTT) assessment in reading and mathematics, from October 10–December 16, 2022. LTT was last administered in the fall of 2019, so this opportunity will provide fresh data toward understanding pandemic learning loss. For this effort, 61 Texas schools will participate and National results from the assessment will be available in 2023.
In addition to LTT, the NAEP 2023 program will include a field test to explore a new online assessment platform and transition to different devices. Forty-seven Texas schools have been selected to participate in the field test. At this time, all districts and schools selected to participate in NAEP 2022–23 have been notified.
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