|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Microsoft Word version of this letter is available for download
and PRINTING. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
April 22, 2011
To the Administrator Addressed:
SUBJECT: Information Regarding
the Implementation of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness
(STAAR™)
In
order to fulfill the requirements of House Bill 3 passed by the 81st Texas Legislature and incorporated into Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 39,
the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is developing the new State of Texas
Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). STAAR is a more rigorous assessment
program that will provide the foundation for a new accountability system for
STAAR
will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) beginning in
spring 2012. The STAAR program at grades 3–8 will assess the same
subjects and grades that are currently assessed on TAKS. At high school,
however, grade-specific assessments will be replaced with 12 end-of-course
(EOC) assessments: Algebra I, geometry, Algebra II, biology, chemistry,
physics, English I, English II, English III, world geography, world history,
and
In addition to the information
provided in this letter, there are several other resources available regarding
the new STAAR program.
•
In
December 2010, the House Bill 3 Transition Plan was posted on
TEA’s website, and it can be accessed at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/hb3plan. This plan contains a
detailed description of the process the commissioner of education is using to
develop and implement the provisions of House Bill 3.
•
STAAR
Resources—Many resources are available on the STAAR webpage at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar, including assessment attributes, assessed curriculum
documents, and test blueprints. The STAAR webpage will continue to be the best
source of information for the STAAR program; for example, in fall 2011 STAAR
sample items will be posted on the resources page.
Test Administration Policies
With
the new assessment program, current
administration policies have been reevaluated and modified as necessary to
ensure that they fit the new structure and purpose of the STAAR program. The
information below provides updates to current policies and is intended to
assist in preparations for the spring 2012 STAAR administrations. More
information on each of these topics will be communicated when it is available.
•
Assessment Availability and Mode—The chart in
Attachment A outlines the assessments available in spring 2012. It also lists
which assessments are offered on paper or online and includes assessment
information for English language learners and students receiving special
education services.
•
Time Limits—Based on feedback received from school
district personnel, TEA will establish a 4-hour time limit for both the STAAR
EOC assessments and the STAAR grades 3–8 assessments for the 2012 spring
test administration. A 4-hour time limit should provide sufficient time for the
majority of students to complete the test. This policy will align Texas testing
practices with other timed state and national assessments. For example, SAT,
ACT, and AP examinations are all administered in timed settings so there is
concern that high school students are not being adequately prepared for testing
expectations in the future. In addition, placing time limits on the tests
should help minimize local practices that promote the overuse of test-taking
strategies by students that do not contribute significantly to how well they
perform on the tests but significantly extend the amount of time it takes to
complete the tests. Extended time accommodations for students with unique
learning needs or circumstances will continue to be offered. At the high school
level, the 4-hour time limit will not preclude campuses from having two testing
sessions within a given day. If two sessions are desired, early start times can
be offered, sessions can overlap, or test sessions can extend beyond the
typical school day. Most importantly, the TEA will review the 4-hour time limit
for STAAR after the first administration in spring 2012 to determine if the
policy needs to be reconsidered or adjusted for specific grades or subjects. In
particular, the TEA will examine the amount of time necessary to complete
assessments such as the writing sections of English I, II, and III.
•
Make-up Testing—Current plans for the STAAR program
include offering make-up testing opportunities for all grades and subjects, not
just those used in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) calculations. Make-ups are
sometimes designated for particular days (e.g., English I) and sometimes are
allowed over several days. Make-ups are planned for assessments given during
all administrations, including summer administrations. Please note that the
decision to allow make-up administrations in summer 2012 is different than what
is currently indicated on the testing calendar.
•
Dictionaries and Calculators—The STAAR
program has new policies for dictionary and calculator use on the state assessments
based on the new curriculum requirements. The calculator policies for chemistry
and physics were previously communicated to districts in a letter dated
September 18, 2009. See Attachment B for the dictionary and calculator
policies. More information regarding dictionary and
calculator use as an accommodation will be provided as soon as it becomes
available.
•
Embedded Reference Materials—Reference
materials (e.g., formula charts) for STAAR mathematics and science assessments
and graph paper for STAAR mathematics assessments will be included in test
booklets. These materials will be printed on perforated pages so that students
can remove them and use them during the test administration.
•
Grade 3 Answer Documents—Students
taking STAAR grade 3 reading and mathematics assessments will now record their
responses on a separate answer document, as is done for other assessments.
Grade 3 students will no longer record their answers to test items in a
scorable test booklet.
•
Dyslexia Accommodations—Current dyslexia accommodations
for the TAKS program are limited to grades 3–8. However, for the STAAR
program, TEA is expanding these testing policies to include high school
students with dyslexia and other similar reading disabilities. Students will be
allowed to take the STAAR English I, II, and III assessments as well as the
grades 3–8 reading assessments with accommodations, such as the oral
reading of item stems/answer options and extended time. These accommodations
represent two of the three accommodations in the current dyslexia bundle. The
only accommodation that will no longer be provided is the proper-nouns lists.
More information about these accommodations as well as others that will be
available to students will be provided in the future.
Assessments for Students Receiving
Special Education Services
The
STAAR program will include assessments for students receiving special education
services. Accommodated forms will no longer be available, but format changes similar
to TAKS (Accommodated) will be made to STAAR assessments for all grades and
subjects. In addition, accommodation policies are being revisited to determine
how they should be applied to the general assessment. STAAR Modified (similar
to TAKS–M) and STAAR Alternate (similar to TAKS–Alt) assessments
will be available, just as they were with the TAKS program. Beginning this fall for the 2011–2012
school year, STAAR Alternate will be the only alternate assessment offered for
students with significant cognitive disabilities rather than continuing
TAKS–Alt only for students in grades 10 and 11. For more
information, refer to the special education assessments webpage at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/.
Assessments for English Language
Learners
With
the development of the new STAAR program, all aspects of linguistic
accommodations are being reviewed, including student eligibility criteria,
grades and subjects included in the linguistically accommodated version of
STAAR, known as STAAR L, and the types of accommodations that will be provided.
The most important change for the STAAR program for English language learners
is that linguistic accommodations will be available for most STAAR assessments,
not just for those used in AYP calculations. Please
note that there are no changes to the current TELPAS program and associated
policies for the 2011–2012 school year.
Standard-Setting Activities
Standard-setting
meetings for STAAR EOC assessments will take place in February 2012, prior to
spring results being reported to districts. Performance standards for the STAAR
grades 3–8 assessments will be set in fall 2012, so only raw scores will
be reported following the spring 2012 administrations. A phase-in of
performance standards is likely to be implemented.
STAAR performance labels and policy definitions, as
well as the process used to develop them, can be found on TEA’s website
at the following link: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2147496801.
Student Success Initiative (SSI)
Because
performance standards for STAAR grades 3–8 will not be set until after the
spring 2012 administration, only raw-score information will be reported prior
to the end of the school year. Therefore, SSI retest opportunities for STAAR
grades 5 and 8 reading and mathematics will not be offered in May and June of
2012. For the 2011–2012 school year, districts will use other relevant
academic information to make promotion/retention decisions. More information
will be provided in the future.
2012 Sampling Plan
TEA
has made a concerted effort over the past several years to minimize the amount
of instructional time used for testing purposes, particularly stand-alone field
testing. However, there may be a need for some mandatory sampling for several
STAAR EOC assessments in 2012 in order to provide adequate data required for
legislative studies and to build a sufficient number of test forms to allow for
multiple administrations. Field-test data from a sample of students
representative of the state are critical to the state’s ability to build
high-quality assessments.
STAAR Implementation Survey
TEA continues to work
on the implementation of the new STAAR program. We are requesting information
from those in the field to help guide STAAR decisions. Please go to the
following link http://www.texasassessment.com/STAARsurvey to participate in a
STAAR survey to assist us in this important work.
If you have questions
or need further clarification about this information, please contact the
Student Assessment Division. Additional information
about STAAR will be provided as it become available.
Assessment
Contact Information
Texas
Education Agency
Department
of Assessment, Accountability, and Data Quality, Criss Cloudt, Associate
Commissioner
Division
of Student Assessment, Gloria Zyskowski, Deputy Associate Commissioner
(512)
463-9536
studenta@tea.state.tx.us
Attachment
A: Texas
Assessment Program for 2011–2012
Attachment
B: STAAR
Dictionary and Calculator Policies
Attachment A
Texas Assessment Program for Spring
2012
*
If a student enrolled in grade 8 or below is taking a course for which there is
a STAAR EOC assessment, that student will be required to take both the
applicable grade level STAAR assessments and the applicable STAAR EOC
assessment.
** If a student is a repeating grade 9 student in
2011–2012, TAKS is still his or her assessment graduation requirement. Attachment
B
*One
dictionary should be available for every five students.
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
