Staar Trek The Next Generation STAAR Trek: The Next Generation Test Design

This Year’s Mantra will be Flexibility What we know as of 9/1/2011… Subject to change

State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR)  STAAR will focus on “clearer, fewer, and deeper”.  Provide a more clearly articulated assessment program  Focus on fewer skills  Address skills in a deeper manner

Implemented in School Year STAAR Assessments for Grades 3-8  3-8 mathematics  3-8 reading  4 and 7 writing  5 and 8 science  8 social studies

State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR)  Begins with the 2011–2012 school year. The new test design will focus on readiness for success in subsequent grades or courses and, ultimately, for college and career.  Grades 3 – 8 tests are in same grades and subjects as TAKS (Grade 3 will answer on answer documents, not in test booklets)  At high school 12 end-of-course assessments rather than a grade-specific test (grade 11) covering four subject areas 5

STAAR Readiness and Supporting Standards 6 Readiness Standards  Encompass 30–40% of the eligible TEKS  Will make up 60–65% of the assessment Supporting Standards  Encompass 60–70% of the eligible TEKS  Will make up 35–40% of the assessment

STAAR 7

STAAR Readiness Standards  In general, Readiness Standards  Are essential for success in the current grade or course  Are important for preparedness for the next grade or course  Support college and career readiness  Necessitate in-depth instruction  Address broad and deep ideas

STAAR Supporting Standards  In general, Supporting Standards  May be introduced in the current grade or course and emphasized in a subsequent year.  May be emphasized in a previous year and reinforced in the current grade or course.  May play a role in preparing students for the next grade or course but not a central role.  May address more narrowly defined ideas.

STAAR Blueprints 10 Physics Blueprint

STAAR Policies Previously Communicated  Testing policies that have been communicated  4-hour time limit  Make-up testing  Assessments that require dictionaries and calculators  Embedded and perforated reference materials  Scorable grade 3 answer documents  Dyslexia accommodations to include students in grade 3 through high school, but TEA has not finalized the policies yet

STAAR Policies to be Discussed  Testing policies still being discussed  Testing requirements for all students  Accommodations  Test release plan  Substitute assessments

STAAR End-of-Course High School Assessments English I, English II, English III Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II Biology, Chemistry, Physics World Geography, World History, U.S. History Starts in School Year With Entering 9 th Graders

 STAAR grades 3-8 assessments will be administered on paper only; STAAR EOC assessments will be offered in both online and paper formats.  TEA has adopted a four-hour testing limit on STAAR assessments in order to align Texas’ testing policies with other state and national assessments and better prepare students for timed tests such as SAT, ACT, and AP.  The overall field-test burden of STAAR on students and school districts has been significantly reduced from that of TAKS through the embedding of field test items whenever possible beginning with operational assessments in 2012; although, TEA has said some sampling of upper level EOC will be done on a limited basis in spring Design Differences

STAAR grade 4 & 7 writing assessments will be administered over two days, as will EOC English reading and writing, with the writing component on day one and the reading component on day two. Students will now be required to write two essays instead of one like was required with TAKS. 15 Design Differences

Four Hour time limit  Four hours means four hours. Excluding the lunch break, the clock doesn’t stop for breaks. Students may take breaks, but breaks will take away from testing time. Teachers should work on less time consuming test-taking strategies.  Students who qualify will be able to receive extended time, which means having the full day to test, not two days.  TEA strongly recommends that all testing be finished prior to or after taking a lunch break.

Special Populations  As with the current modified assessments, the STAAR Modified assessments will cover the same content as the general STAAR assessments, but will be modified in format and test design.  Modified assessments will be developed for all content areas for grades 3-8 that are part of the general STAAR program and for nine of the twelve STAAR EOC assessments. Modified assessments are not being developed for Algebra II, chemistry, or physics.  The new STAAR Modified assessments will reflect the same increased rigor and focus of the general assessments and now will include more rigorous item types. 17

STAAR Alternate  STAAR Alternate will be fully operational in  TAKS-Alt will no longer exist.  STAAR Alternate assessments will reflect the same increased rigor and focus of the general and modified assessments.  STAAR Alternate high school assessments will be developed for Algebra I, geometry, biology, English I, English II, English III, world geography, world history, and U.S. history.

Special Populations  The STAAR Alternate assessments will be very similar in design to the current TAKS-Alt assessments. Students will continue to perform standardized assessment tasks linked to the grade- level TEKS that measure student progress on skills aligned with the academic grade-level content standards.  However, STAAR Alternate will incorporate a vertical alignment in the program’s assessment tasks, and the high school assessments will move from grade-level assessments to course- based assessments.  The new STAAR Alternate assessments will reflect the same increased rigor and focus of the general and modified assessments. 19

Special Populations  There will not be a separate accommodated form of the STAAR test.  Students who qualify will still be able to use approved accommodations on the regular STAAR test.  All STAAR tests will have “accommodated-like” features including the Verdana font and more white space.  Students receiving special accommodations will now take a longer version of the test since they will be required to take the regular version of STAAR with imbedded field test items.

STAAR Graduation Requirements Graduation Requirements  Freshman class of 2011–2012 is first group to have EOC assessments as part of their graduation requirement.  All 12 EOC assessments will be available in 2011– 2012 in both paper and online modes for these students.

STAAR Resources  Resources available  Assessed curriculum  Assessment blueprints  Description of the new assessment model  Comparison between TAKS and STAAR  Performance labels and policy definitions  Reference materials  Test designs  Scoring rubrics  Griddable item format  Resources still to come—sample items

STAAR Resources 23 Posted on the TEA student assessment website at