STAAR Reform: Don’t lower the bar for Texas students
It’s open season on the STAAR test and understandably so. Texans are right to expect better assessments that support students, inform instruction and don’t cause undue stress. But let’s be very clear: the solution isn’t to replace STAAR with a test that tells us less about what our kids are actually learning.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what some are proposing: replacing STAAR with a nationally norm-referenced test. This is a bad idea.
Norm-referenced tests only tell us how students rank compared to their peers. These tests guarantee that a certain percentage of students must fail. Norm-referenced tests cannot tell Texas parents whether their child has learned what they’re supposed to.
Imagine going to the doctor for a checkup. Instead of being told whether your blood pressure is healthy, you’re told you’re in the top 30% of all patients. This sounds OK until you learn that most of those patients have high blood pressure. You still have no idea if you’re healthy. That’s how norm-referenced tests work.
Texas students deserve better.
Our state’s standards, crafted by Texas educators and elected leaders, define what students should know in each grade. We need assessments that measure whether students are meeting those standards, not how they compare to students in California or Connecticut.
This isn’t about defending STAAR. There’s broad agreement that it needs to be improved. Assessments should provide faster results and support instruction. But replacing it with a test that doesn’t align with Texas standards is a step backward.
And the stakes are high.
Too many Texas students are not reading on grade level or mastering basic math skills. If we stop measuring that clearly and directly, we risk ignoring it altogether.
Critics argue that we should add new indicators — like extracurriculars, family engagement or soft skills — to accountability ratings. Those ideas are worth exploring. But they’re no replacement for knowing whether a child can read by third grade or do algebra by eighth.
Because here’s the truth: students who can’t read by third grade are four times more likely to drop out. Students who lack basic math skills are far less likely to earn a college credential or succeed in job training.
Texas should absolutely improve STAAR. Let’s reduce test length, give faster feedback and better support teachers. But abandoning a standards-aligned assessment in favor of a normed national test isn’t reform. It’s a retreat.
Texas families deserve assessments that tell the truth about what students have learned so we can do something about it.