House hears testimony on STAAR redesign

The House Public Education Committee met August 21 to hear public testimony on HB 8 by Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Salado), a bill that would redesign state testing and overhaul the A-F accountability system.

With the controversy surrounding congressional redistricting efforts in both special sessions, state testing redesign has taken a backseat to other items on the agenda, but now that most of the big-ticket bills have sufficiently moved through the legislative process, House committees have begun working on other priorities.

In the House Public Education Committee, only a few of those registered to testify got the opportunity to speak since the House was scheduled to take to the floor at 10 AM. The first panel included Commissioner of Education Mike Morath who answered a majority of the committee's questions. Much of the members' focus was on the details of how STAAR would be redesigned and the logistics of changing from a single summative exam at the end of the year to three through-year exams. Other panelists outlined the differences between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced testing and explained the possibility of using adaptive tests as a diagnostic tool for students.

The intent of HB 8 is that the burden of testing be spread throughout the year to reduce stress on teachers and students alike. Currently, almost all campuses implement campus shutdowns on testing days to ensure secure testing protocols are observed, but HB 8 would create shorter exams that are intended for a single class period, at most, and would not require campus shutdowns. STAAR as it exists does not allow teachers to adjust their instruction to meet student needs since it is typically reported as a raw score and sent to the students' teachers the next year. Through-year testing would allow teachers in the same school year to make key adjustments to their instruction and improve student outcomes throughout the year with a standardized test.

The bill was left pending in committee and will likely be heard later tonight if not tomorrow.

Updates from the Capitol

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