Texas Formative Assessment Resource

The Texas Formative Assessment Resource (TFAR) is an online platform that enables educators to create, administer, analyze, and share formative assessments. Data from formative assessments is used to inform teaching decisions and improve instructional supports. TFAR is an optional tool that is available at no cost to districts and open-enrollment charter schools and is not tied to accountability.

TFAR is meant to supplement and support existing district resources and formative assessment practices. Quizzes built using this tool should be combined with a broader set of classroom formative practices that are part of a coherent instructional framework.

What's New?

• TFAR will support accommodations for the released STAAR questions in its item banks.

• Regional- and district-level content creation roles will be added to the system. Users with these roles can create and share questions and tests in TFAR, but they will not have access to student data.

• Formative assessments from select, high quality instructional materials (HQIM) with an open education license will be available to administer through the same online test administration system as assessments created using TFAR. More information about which HQIM products’ tests will be available in the online system and the release dates of these tests will be available in the fall.

Key Dates

Resources

• TFAR Authoring System (external link)

• TFAR Educator Guide (updated 1/31/23)

Training Materials

Please see the dates and training details below.

• Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) Overview

• Overview of the Centralized Reporting System (CRS)

• TFAR Authoring Course – 3.5 CPE Hours (LMS)

  • Authoring System Training Module

  • Module 1: How To Write An Item In Authoring

  • Module 2: How To Add Images To Items In Authoring

  • Module 3: How To Align Items To Standards And Set Up Item Properties

  • Module 4: How To Filter And Search For Items In Authoring

  • Module 5: How To Publish Tests In Authoring

  • Module 6: How To Understand Item And Test Status In Authoring

  • Module 7: How Educator-Authored Tests Are Reported In The Centralized Reporting System

  • Module 8: Generate, Start, Monitor Teacher - Authored Test Sessions in the TA interface