By Rita Cook
AUSTIN – It does not seem as if Texas Governor Greg Abbott will call a third special session, but no matter the second special session of the 89th Texas Legislature was one for the books.
With 19 items to originally consider, it climbed to 24 and apparently the battles Abbott felt he needed to tackle were done so effectively.
One controversial item that passed was the elimination of the STAAR test.
House Bill 8 eliminated the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test allowing for three shorter state-mandated tests throughout the school year to assess student development.
The tests will be administered at the beginning of the school year, in the middle of the school and towards the end of the school year.
HB8 also prohibits benchmark and practice tests prior to the three shorter tests.
These practice test have become routing during thepreparation for STAAR since it was introduced in the 2011–2012 school year.
The STAAR program replaced the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test.
The three new tests replacing the STAAR test will also be aimed at improving the state’s accountability system for schools.
The three new tests will be created and administered by the Texas Education Association (TEA) and within 48 hours parents, teachers and students will know the results.
HB8 was authored by Republican Brad Buckley from Killeen, House District 54, who previously served on the school board for the Killeen Independent School District.
He said he believed the new testing system would decrease the high-stakes environment of the annual multi-day annual STAAR exams in the Spring.
“We are in a position where districts see our school accountability ratings as broken,” Buckley said.
He also mentioned that in some Texas school districts there is much time being spent giving students dozens of benchmark tests just to prepare for the STAAR test.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa from Austin opposed the bill as it was making its way through the house stating “Look, if this bill was limiting the amounts of tests that districts put on kids, then I would be all for it. It is. It does do that. It bans those additional benchmarks. But that is not all it does, it has now added state-mandated testing days.”
She also attempted to amend the bill taking TEA out of the creation of the new tests, but the amendment failed.
Teachthevote.org noted HB8 might have passed, but it was not until after a contentious debate on the House floor.
And while Buckley had said of his bill that it would end those “high stakes” in favor of the three shorter tests, Teachthevote.org indicated “In all, there is a 175% increase in the number of mandated tests, from 15 to 51 in grades 3-8. However, the number of end-of-course (EOC) exams is decreasing from five to four with the elimination of the English II test.”
The elimination of the STAAR test was one of Abbott’s priorities during the 89th Legislative session.
The new shorter three test program will begin in the 2027–2028 school year.
