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STAAR Redesign

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) test is being redesigned to make the test more tightly aligned to the classroom experience.

Summative Tests Redesign Overview

The STAAR redesign is a result of House Bill (HB) 3906 passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), working with a wide range of education stakeholders, including the Assessment Education Advisory Committee, has been exploring the most instructionally supportive approach to implementing these changes. The redesign will be implemented in the state summative assessments administered in the 2022–2023 school year.

The STAAR redesign includes several components: 

For more information about how the STAAR redesign improves alignment to the classroom experience, hear what teachers are saying, reference the STAAR Redesign February 2022 Presentation (PDF, posted 3/7/22), or see below for more information about each component. For answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ), please reference the STAAR Redesign FAQ (PDF, updated 8/30/22).

Online Testing and Accommodations

Effective teachers support all students' learning need with appropriate accommodations. The STAAR redesign moves assessments online to provide robust accommodations to support student learning.

 

House Bill (HB) 3261, enacted by the 87th Texas Legislature in 2021, requires state assessments to be administered online by the 2022–2023 school year. Online administration allows students to receive accommodations like those they get in the classroom, provides faster test results, improves test operations, and allows new non-multiple-choice questions. This transition will require nearly all students to be assessed online, with the exceptions of students taking the STAAR Alternate 2 assessment and students who require accommodations that cannot be provided online. See what educators have to say about the robust accommodations available to students through online testing. 

Resources to Support Online Testing and Accommodations:

New Question Types

Effective teachers provide open ended questions formats for students. STAAR Redesign includes new, non-multiple-choice questions that are more like the ones the teachers ask in class

 

House Bill 3906 established a “multiple choice cap,” meaning that no more than 75% of points on a STAAR test can be based on multiple choice questions. Texas educators are helping design new question types that reflect classroom test questions and allow students more ways to show their understanding. All possible new question types are being field-tested with students to ensure validity before they are incorporated into the redesigned summative tests beginning in spring 2023.

Resources to Support New Question Types

Cross-curricular Passages

Effective teachers build students background knowledge and vocabulary. The STAAR redesign uses cross-curricular RLA passages to build on topics students have learned in other classes

 

There will be an increase in the number of cross-curricular informational passages that reference content aligned to the TEKS for other subject areas (e.g., social studies, science, mathematics, fine arts, etc.). While the cross-curricular passages on reading language arts (RLA) test will include topics from other subject areas, the questions will only assess RLA TEKS; students will not be scored on their understanding of TEKS for other subject areas.

Resources to Support New Question Types

Evidence-based Writing

Effective teachers ask students to write about what they read using evidence from text. STAAR Redesign includes writing in all RLA tests similar to what students do in class.

 

Beginning with the 2022–2023 school year, RLA assessments will assess both reading and writing (grades 3–8 English, grades 3–5 Spanish, and English I and II End-of-Course) and will include new question types and an extended constructed response, or essay, at every grade level.

Based on research and educator feedback, the essay component will shift from a standalone prompt to writing in response to a reading selection. Students will write in one of three possible modes: informational, argumentative, or correspondence and will be scored using a 5-point rubric. The rubric will include two main components: idea development and language conventions. 

Resources to Support Evidence-based Writing on all Tests

To clarify any information from the content on this web page, please submit a Help Desk ticket to Student Assessment

 

 

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Student Assessment Division
512-463-9536

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