Performance standards for STAAR to be phased in
Posted by vechols on April 24, 2012
Posted by TEA April 24, 2012
AUSTIN –The commissioner of education today unveiled the performance standards
students must achieve to pass or excel on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness
(STAAR™) end-of-course tests.
“These standards will be challenging for our students and will push academic
performance to a new level in Texas. Students who pass the STAAR end-of-course assessments
will be better prepared for success in the next course or in postsecondary pursuits,” said
Commissioner of Education Robert Scott.
Three performance categories have been set for STAAR EOCs. The definitions for the
categories are:
Level III: Advanced Academic Performance*
Performance in this category indicates that students are well prepared for the next grade or
course. They demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and
skills in varied contexts, both familiar and unfamiliar. Students in this category have a high
likelihood of success in the next grade or course with little or no academic intervention.
* For Algebra II and English III, this level of performance also indicates students are well
prepared for postsecondary success.
Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance**
Performance in this category indicates that students are sufficiently prepared for the next grade
or course. They generally demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed
knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Students in this category have a reasonable likelihood
of success in the next grade or course but may need short-term, targeted academic intervention.
** For Algebra II and English III, this level of performance also indicates students are
sufficiently prepared for postsecondary success.
Level I: Unsatisfactory Academic Performance
Performance in this category indicates that students are inadequately prepared for the next grade
or course. They do not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the assessed knowledge and
skills. Students in this category are unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without
significant, ongoing academic intervention.As the state has done for at least the past two testing programs – the Texas Assessment of
Academic Skills (TAAS) and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) – the
passing standards will be phased in. The Level II passing standards will be a four-year, two-step
process. A two-year phase-in will be used for Level III performance on English III reading and
writing and Algebra II only.
The phase-in approach was adopted because of the significant increase in the rigor of the
STAAR program and because the distance between the initial and final passing standards for
Level II are generally larger than the distance between the initial and final passing standards for
TAKS.
The phase-in will provide districts with time to adjust instruction, provide additional staff
training, and close knowledge gaps.
“We have found that a gradual increase in standards sets realistic but challenging
expectations for our students and results in improved academic performance,” Scott said.
The performance standards each student must achieve will be based on the year a student
takes his first end-of-course assessment.
• If students take their first STAAR EOC assessment in 2012 or 2013, they will be held to
the first set of Level II phase-in performance standards for every assessment in that
content area.
• Students who take their first STAAR EOC assessment in 2014 or 2015 will be held to the
second set of Level II phase-in performance standards.
• The final Level II performance standards will be in place for any students who take their
first STAAR EOC assessment in 2016 or later.
• The final Level III performance standards will be in place for any students who take their
first STAAR English III writing and reading and Algebra II EOC tests in 2014 or later.
Level II standards
The scores needed to reach the various performance levels are expressed as scale scores.
Once fully phased in, the score needed to achieve Level II performance will be a scale score of
4000 for each of the following assessments: Algebra I, Algebra II, geometry, biology, chemistry,
physics, world geography, world history, and United States history. The initial phase-in standard
for these tests will be 3500.
The scale score needed to achieve a Level II performance on each of the English I, II, and
III reading and writing assessments is 2000. The initial phase-in score is 1875.
Level III standards
The Level III standards will not be phased in for English I and II reading and writing,
Algebra I, geometry, biology, chemistry, physics, world geography, world history and U.S.
history. The final performance standards on these tests for Level III will range from 4333 to
4634, depending on the assessment.
An initial phase-in score of 4080 will be required to earn a Level III performance for the
Algebra II assessment with the final Level III score set at 4411.
The English III reading assessment will require an initial phase-in score of 2135, while
the English III writing assessment will require an initial score of 2155. The fully-implemented
standards will require a score of 2356 on the English III reading test and a score of 2300 on the
English III writing test.State law now requires students graduating in 2015 or later to earn a Level III rating on
Algebra II and English III to qualify for the state’s Distinguished Achievement Program high
school diploma.
The attached table lists the scale scores needed on all the STAAR EOC assessments. The
category called minimum refers to a score that is below Level II but is high enough to be
included in the cumulative score students must achieve on the three assessments in each core
content area.
Texas classroom teachers and administrators, higher education faculty, education policy
experts, staff from the Texas Education Agency and Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board, and psychometricians who are experts in the development of educational tests, worked
together for four years to prepare passing standard recommendations. Additionally, TEA and
Coordinating Board staff conducted research studies over a three-year period to link performance
on a STAAR assessment and performance on other assessments in the same content area.
TEA expects to release the first round of STAAR results in June.
Additional information about the STAAR EOC standards can be found at
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/.
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