Staar Trek The Next Generation STAAR Trek: The Next Generation Performance Standards

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

STAAR Performance Labels Performance Labels There will be two cut scores, which will identify three performance categories for the general STAAR assessments. The labels for the performance categories are  Level III: Advanced Academic Performance  Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance  Level I: Unsatisfactory Academic Performance

STAAR Performance Standards Performance Standards for EOC Assessments  Standards will be set in February 2012 prior to first high stakes administration in spring  First reports with performance standards applied will be available in June  First retests will be offered in July 2012.

STAAR Performance Standards Performance Standards for Grades 3–8  Standards will be set in October 2012 after first administration in spring  Raw score information will be available in late spring  First reports with performance standards applied will be available in late fall 2012.

STAAR End-of-Course High School Assessments  Testing requirements for graduation will significantly increase. While TAKS represented four “hurdles” for students, STAAR represents 12 hurdles for students taking the recommended high school program.  To graduate under STAAR, a student must achieve a cumulative score that is at least equal to the product of the number of EOC assessments taken in each foundation content area (English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) and a scale score that indicates satisfactory performance. 6

STAAR Graduation Requirements Graduation Requirements  A student must achieve a minimum score, as determined by the commissioner, for the score to count towards the student’s cumulative score.  A student’s cumulative score is determined using the student‘s highest score on each EOC assessment.

STAAR Graduation Requirements 8 Graduation Requirements For middle school students who take a high school course (e.g., Algebra I) prior to spring 2012, TEA is considering several options.  Students would not be required to take that particular EOC assessment. Their cumulative score for that content area would decrease.  Students could choose to take that particular EOC assessment in spring 2012 or beyond. If they take the assessment, the score they receive would only be used in their cumulative score if it benefitted the students.

STAAR Graduation Requirements 9 Graduation Requirements For freshmen who complete a high school course in fall 2011 (e.g., students on an accelerated block schedule), TEA is considering several options.  Students would not be required to take that particular EOC assessment. Their cumulative score for that content area would decrease.  Students could choose to take that particular EOC assessment in spring 2012 or beyond. If they take the assessment, the score they receive would only be used in their cumulative score if it benefitted the students.

STAAR Graduation Requirements 10 Graduation Requirements For students who are new to Texas public schools (e.g., from out-of-state, out-of-country, or private schools) and who have earned credit for a high school course that has an EOC assessment associated with it, TEA is considering several options in addition to the options that currently exist.  Students would not be required to take that particular EOC assessment. Their cumulative score for that content area would decrease.  Students could choose to take that particular EOC assessment. If they take the assessment, the score they receive would only be used in their cumulative score if it benefitted the students.

STAAR Graduation Requirements 11 Graduation Requirements In the future, TEA is planning multiple administrations of EOC assessments for  Students who complete the course at different times of the year  Retest opportunities TEA is planning EOC administrations at the end of  Spring  Summer  Fall

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 End-of-Course High School Assessments In addition to meeting cumulative score requirement in each of four core content areas, students on the recommended high school program have to perform satisfactorily on –  Algebra II assessment  English III assessment 13

 A student’s score on an EOC assessment will be worth 15% of student’s final grade for that course 14 STAAR End-of-Course High School Assessments

In addition to meeting cumulative score requirement in each of four core content areas, students on the distinguished achievement program have to perform satisfactorily on the college and career readiness component of –  Algebra II assessment  English III assessment 15

STAAR Graduation Requirements Graduation Requirements for the Recommended High School Program Take all 12 STAAR EOC assessments Meet cumulative score requirement in each of the four core content areas  Achieve Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance on English III  Achieve Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance on Algebra II

STAAR Graduation Requirements Graduation Requirements for the Minimum High School Program Take STAAR EOC assessments for courses in which they are enrolled and for which an EOC assessment exists (8–12 tests) Meet cumulative score requirement in each of the four core content areas for courses specifically required on the MHSP (could be as few as 8 tests)

STAAR Performance Standard EOC Assessments  English III and Algebra II assessments will include a performance standard, Level III: Advanced Academic Performance, that indicates postsecondary readiness.  Research will be conducted to investigate a postsecondary- readiness component for science and social studies EOC assessments.

STAAR End-of-Course High School Assessments  Students are not required to retake a course if he or she received credit for the course as a condition of retaking the assessment  School districts shall provide accelerated instruction to each student who fails to perform satisfactorily on assessments 19

PASSING STAAR Graduation Requirements 20 NOT PASSING HIGH PERFORMANCE MINIMUM SCORE Graduation Requirements Students must reach at least the minimum score

Standard Setting Process  STAAR performance standards will be set so that they require a higher level of student performance than is required on the current TAKS assessments.  STAAR performance standards for STAAR EOC will be set in February 2012 and reports will be available in June 2012 after the first May 2012 administration.  Performance standards for STAAR at grades 3–8 will be set in fall 2012, after the first spring administration of STAAR. This standard-setting schedule will result in the following: 21

Standard Setting Process  The Student Success Initiative (SSI) promotion requirements will not include use of the STAAR results in the 2011–2012 school year only, since passing standards will not yet be established. Statute will require the use of other academic information (teacher recommendations, student grades, etc.) in promotion decisions.  Reporting of STAAR grades 3-8 results will be delayed until fall  Different measures of student progress will likely be implemented for STAAR. Texas will implement a multi-step process to identify the student progress measures that will be used for the STAAR assessment program. 22

Performance Standards  Each general grade 3-8 and EOC STAAR assessment will have a satisfactory cut score and an advanced cut score. There will also be EOC minimum scores set below but within a reasonable range of the satisfactory scores that will be used to determine whether a student’s score on a particular EOC assessment may count toward his or her cumulative score in that content area. 23

Performance Standards  Performance at the highest cut score will be interpreted differently depending on the assessment.  The highest cut will indicate college readiness for Algebra II and English III.  It will indicate advanced course readiness for Algebra I, English I, and II.  It will indicate advanced performance for the remaining courses. 24

Performance Standards  It is anticipated that the satisfactory performance standards for STAAR will be phased in over several years, but the highest performance standard (including the college and career readiness standards for Algebra II and English III) would not be phased in, but applied as approved when STAAR becomes operational.  Performance standards will be reviewed at least every three years, as required by state statute. 25

What data will be available when  TAKS – spring 2011 was the last year for grades 3-9. The last TAKS year for grade 10 is 2012; last primary administration of exit level TAKS is spring 2013  STAAR EOC – first reports will be available in late spring 2012; first retest will be offered in summer 2012  STAAR 3-8 – first reports with performance standards applied will be available in late fall 2012  Students and parents are able to access results through a data portal, a secure system that provides the ability to view reports, track student progress, provide assessment data to institutions of higher education, and provide information to the general public. 26

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 28 Posted on the TEA student assessment website at