After the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test was passed into law in 2009, test scores plummeted with the first administration of the exam. Now that the Texas Legislature is in session, the STAAR will be reevaluated and changes will be made to the test program. House Bill 5 is the bill concerning education and STAAR revision.
“Testing is the most important issue in front of us this session,” Texas Senator Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said.
There are a few things that the bill will change about the STAAR test and education in general. For the past two years, the rule that the STAAR will count for 15 percent of students’ grades has been waived so that feature will be removed as well. Beginning with the graduating class of 2015, 15 exit level tests were necessary for graduation. Since the bill passed the House, that number will be reduced to five. The bill will get rid of the classification of schools with “exemplary, recognized, acceptable and unacceptable and relace those with letter grades of A, B, C, D, E and F.
“I really like the letter grade aspect because when you say a school is acceptable, people think “that’s not that bad,” but that’s third best,” State Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, said. “When parents see that a school is ranked with a C, they can understand the letter grade better.”
Also included in the new adjustments, the bill will expand the career and technical education curriculum. This will be helpful to students who do not plan to attend a four-year college after high school.
“For a long time, the state of Texas has had this ‘every kid will graduate college ready’ attitude when not everyone is going to do the same thing,” Gonzales said.
The bill still has a ways to go before it is passed. Congress will review it and changes and additions will be made.
“This is a big bill, and sometimes with bills with a lot of things on it, it gets complicated and will move more slowly,” Gonzales said. “But I think it’s mostly universally liked.”
Videos of hearings on education can be found at http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/.
