1. What is STAAR?

implemented in the 2011–2012 school year. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), in collaboration with the

STAAR Spanish. STAAR is administered primarily online with and without accommodations. There are

also paper, large print, and braille versions of STAAR. Refer to the STAAR Resources webpage for more

information.

2. In what grades, subjects, and courses are students assessed with STAAR?

The specific testing windows for each school year can be found in the Student Assessment Testing

Calendar on the Test Administration Resources webpage.

4. How many days are students taking STAAR assessments?

grades 3, 4, 6, and 7; three days in grade 5; and four days in grade 8.

school courses and whether students need to retest. In most cases, a high school student would have

five days of testing throughout his or her high school years—three in grade 9, one in grade 10, and one

in grade 11.

5. Are there any released test questions available for STAAR?

enhanced items.

Student Assessment Division

6. What types of questions are on STAAR assessments?

Beginning with the spring 2023 administration, STAAR has been redesigned to align more closely with

effective classroom instruction. The redesigned assessments include multiple-choice and non-multiple-

more aligned to the types of questions teachers ask in class and to give students different ways to show

scored based on the content included in the response and the evidence used to support it. Refer to the

scoring guides for each content area that are posted on the specific STAAR content-area webpages.

8. What are extended constructed-response questions?

require a response written in one of three modes: informational, argumentative, or correspondence.

Extended constructed-response questions are scored based on organization and development of ideas

and on language conventions. Refer to the writing rubrics and scoring guides available on the STAAR RLA

Resources webpage for more information.

9. How many characters are allowed for student responses to constructed-response questions?

computer programs to type, organize, and write well enough to be assessed. At least 20 other states

require elementary-age students to write extended responses online. Additionally, the Texas technology

TEKS require students to be able to type proficiently by grade 3, including learning the proper touch

keyboarding techniques and ergonomic strategies. Students who need support with typing have access

to existing transcribing accommodations that allow test administrators to transfer student responses

into the online system.

11. What type of reading passages are included on the STAAR RLA assessments?

The STAAR RLA assessments include cross-curricular informational passages that reference content

aligned to the TEKS for other content areas (e.g., social studies, science, mathematics, fine arts, etc.).

While the cross-curricular passages include topics from other content areas, the test questions only

Student Assessment Division

2

12. What are the general testing requirements for students in grades 3–8?

Students in grades 3–8 must be tested at their enrolled grade level as required in Texas Education Code

Exceptions to this requirement may exist for students receiving instruction above grade level.

grade/subject in which he or she is receiving above-grade instruction if an assessment exists. For

enrolled in grade 6 is receiving instruction in all grade 6 and some grade 7 mathematics TEKS, the

student should take the STAAR grade 6 mathematics assessment. It would not be appropriate to

administer the grade 7 assessment to this student since the student has not been given the

opportunity to learn all the grade 7 mathematics TEKS. This student must take the STAAR grade 6

the corresponding STAAR EOC assessment in place of the grade-level assessment in that content

area if an assessment exists. For example, a student enrolled in grade 8 who is receiving

instruction in English I should take the STAAR English I assessment and must take STAAR grade 8

mathematics assessment as well as all other STAAR grade 8 assessments.

these students are required to take their grade-level STAAR assessment (if he or she has not

already taken it) to fulfill the federal requirement that students be assessed in science at least

once in elementary school and once in middle school.

Student Assessment Division

3

Regardless of their enrolled grade level, students should take STAAR EOC assessments (Algebra I,

English I, English II, Biology, and U.S. History) as they are completing the corresponding courses since

these assessments are required for high school graduation and most are required for federal

accountability purposes.

16. Are districts required to provide accelerated instruction to students who do not have a passing score

Yes. TEC §28.0211 requires any student who does not receive a passing score on a STAAR assessment to

STAAR GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

17. Which STAAR assessments are required for high school graduation?

Student Assessment Division

4

19. How many testing opportunities do students have to pass the STAAR EOC assessments?

All five STAAR EOC assessments—Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology, and U.S. History—are

administered at the end of the first semester (fall), at the end of the second semester (spring), and in the

summer, giving students three testing opportunities each year. The number of testing opportunities

students have prior to high school graduation is dependent on when students take the corresponding

course. For example, most students take biology during their freshman year. That means students have

To satisfy graduation requirements, students can use satisfactory scores on several assessments (e.g.,

SAT, ACT) in place of satisfactory scores on STAAR EOC assessments. Always refer to the current version of

Student Assessment Division

5

24. What are the STAAR graduation requirements for students who earn course credit through credit by

student is required to pass the corresponding STAAR EOC assessment to fulfill his or her STAAR

graduation requirement. However, if a student uses CBE to gain credit for a course in which he or she

has had no prior instruction, the student is not required to take the corresponding STAAR EOC

Student Assessment Division

6

29. What is the passing standard for STAAR?

has passed the STAAR assessment, but a student who scores within Did Not Meet Grade Level has not

passed. Refer to the STAAR Performance Standards webpage for more information.

students passing in a subsequent year, even though the test questions differ from one year to the next.

31. Does the passing standard for STAAR change each year?

No. The passing standards (scale scores) do not change. However, the raw scores associated with the

scale scores may shift slightly from one administration to the next due to differences in the test

questions. This minor shift (either up or down a point or two) in raw scores can be seen in the STAAR

Raw Score Conversion Tables. These tables are produced each year after the assessments are

administered.

32. Why isn’t the passing standard for each STAAR assessment set at 70 percent of the questions correct?

While many people believe a raw score that is equal to 70 percent of the questions correct should qualify

as passing, a score that is simply the percentage of questions correct does not take into account the

multiplication. Although both testers answered 70 percent of the questions correctly, it would not be

accurate to say that both testers demonstrated the same level of mathematics proficiency.

Scale scores are a better indicator of a student’s mastery of test content. While raw scores on STAAR will

be available to students, parents, and teachers, it is important to understand that answering fewer than

70 percent of the questions correctly on an assessment does not necessarily indicate poor performance

either in terms of scale scores or mastery of the assessed content.

Student Assessment Division

7

33. What reporting data are available to students and their parents?

Student test results are available to students and their parents through the Texas Assessment Family

Portal. Parents can see their child’s recent test results as well as easy-to-use resources to support

learning at home and assist their child in focusing on the skills he or she most needs help with. For

spring administrations of STAAR, parents can see each test question, the correct answer, a rationale for

the correct answer, and their child’s answer. Test results from previous administrations are also

Assessment website.

34. What reporting data are available to districts and campuses?

Authorized district and campus personnel, including classroom teachers, have access to the Centralized

TEA defines accommodations as changes to materials or procedures that enable students to participate

meaningfully in learning and testing. Refer to the Accommodation Resources webpage for more

information.

36. What are the different levels of accommodations available for state assessments?

the Accommodation Resources webpage.

Accessibility features are procedures and materials that should be made available to students who

regularly use them during classroom instruction. Examples of accessibility features include visual

administration.

Designated supports requiring TEA approval are procedures and materials that require the submission

and approval of an Accommodation Request Form for students who meet eligibility criteria. There are

four designated supports requiring TEA approval—Complex Transcribing, Extra Day, Mathematics Scribe,

and Other. The request for one of these designated supports must be made through the Test

Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) prior to the posted deadlines and approved by TEA before a

student can use the designated support on the state assessment.

Student Assessment Division

8

the appropriate committee (e.g., admission, review, and dismissal [ARD] committee; 504 committee;

language proficiency assessment committee [LPAC]; response to intervention [RtI] committee; student

assistance team). When campus-level committees make decisions, they should be addressing a student’s

consistent academic struggle in a specific area. For example, supplemental aids are not the same as

common study aids used by students who are not struggling academically.

38. What do the terms “routinely,” “independently,” and “effectively” mean in the eligibility criteria for

Routinely used does not mean that the accommodation must be used every day during instruction.

Routine use of an accommodation means that the student has used the support often enough during

classroom instruction and classroom testing that he or she is able to use it independently during the

listening comprehension, which is distinctly different from reading comprehension. For this reason,

read aloud makes the assessment an inappropriate and invalid measure, since no determination about a

student’s reading comprehension can be made.

40. What testing options are available for students with disabilities?

Most students with disabilities will take STAAR with or without allowable accommodations. The

appropriate committee at the campus level is responsible for deciding if a student meets eligibility

41. What are the STAAR graduation requirements for students receiving special education services who

The ARD committee makes educational decisions for a student with a disability, including decisions

related to state assessments and graduation requirements as described in TAC §89.1070. Refer to the

Special Education webpage for additional questions about the graduation requirements for students

receiving special education services.