Texas Through-year Assessment Pilot

What is the Texas Through-year Assessment Pilot?

The Texas Through-year Assessment Pilot (TTAP) is an exploratory program to determine if Texas’ current summative assessment can be replaced with a cohesive progress-monitoring system.

House Bill 3906, 86th Texas Legislature, 2019, required the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to develop and pilot an innovative, through-year assessment model as a possible replacement of the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR^®) summative tests. A through-year assessment model refers to a progress monitoring system that provides students multiple opportunities throughout the school year to demonstrate their mastery of standards and to contribute to their summative performance level reported at the end of the year.

TTAP is a multi-year, fully online pilot that launched in the 2022–2023 school year. The model is being piloted over several years to assess its benefits and to ensure that the design maintains the rigorous level of validity and reliability that STAAR currently meets.

TTAP was designed in collaboration with Texas educators, administrators, students, and families while ongoing feedback from pilot participants (i.e., students, teachers, administrators) helps measure the impacts of this system and inform how data can best be used to support instruction.

Who Can Take the Assessments?

Participation in TTAP is optional for Texas public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. TEA gathers participants’ interest through an application process each spring. Around 90 districts and charter schools have volunteered to participate in TTAP for the 2024–2025 school year. Participating in TTAP does not eliminate the district’s obligation to administer STAAR.

When Are the Assessments Available?

As a progress monitoring system, TTAP has three, short testing opportunities—one in the fall, winter, and spring.

TTAP progress monitoring opportunities in October, January, and April. Formative assessments aligned to local curriculum monthly. Note: TTAP progress monitoring opportunities are intended to replace other benchmark assessments to minimize the disruption to instruction.

TTAP Testing Windows

Administration Window	Dates
Opportunity 1	November 11–15, 2024
Opportunity 2	January 27–31, 2025
Opportunity 3	March 24–28, 2024

What Is Tested?

To ensure that all districts can retain their local curriculum and measure within-year student growth, each TTAP progress monitoring opportunity covers the full scope of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Each opportunity uses a multi-stage adaptive design, allowing for shorter tests with greater accuracy to minimize the disruption to instructional time.

The following test titles are available for the 2024–2025 school year:

grade 3 math (new)
grade 6 math
grade 7 math
grade 8 math (new)
grade 8 social studies

What Are the Benefits of Using the Assessments?

Districts that participate in TTAP may experience the following benefits.

Multiple Testing Opportunities—Students have three opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of the TEKS. These assessments enable teachers to measure progress and identify which students are on-track towards meeting end-of-year proficiency. TTAP serves as a viable replacement to locally adopted interim assessments and are 100 percent aligned to the TEKS. All TTAP progress monitoring opportunities are administered on the same online platform as STAAR, giving students additional chances to interact with the system's functionalities.
Timely Student Reports—After each testing opportunity, teachers receive individualized student reports, which include data such as performance levels, predictions to the STAAR, and in-year growth. These reports can be used to share progress with students and parents and serve as an additional data point for identifying intervention needs.
Feedback Loops—TTAP administrators, teachers, and students can help shape the future of Texas assessments by providing feedback throughout the school year. Participants are asked to share their insights and experiences through staff and student surveys, focus groups, and district site visits.

What Other Resources Are Available?

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