STAAR Special Populations: More Information

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• Students Served Through Special Education

  As under the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), the Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) committee will decide which State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) assessment a student served through special education should take based on his/her abilities and participation requirements. ARD committees will continue to consider the needs of each student and select accommodations and supplemental aids, that are required on a routine basis and are necessary to support the student’s success during assessments.

  All students served through special education must have access to grade-level curriculum. Students with disabilities that are recommended for a modified exam will either receive instruction within the general education classroom or in a special education setting with a modified curriculum and expectation, as recommended by their ARD committee. More information about the STAAR modified assessments can be found below.

• STAAR Modified

  Recommending students to participate in a STAAR Modified assessment indicates that the student is receiving extensive modifications and accommodations within the classroom and is not expected to achieve grade-level proficiency during the school year. The STAAR Modified assessments will cover the same content as the general STAAR assessments, but will be modified in format, test design and level of difficulty. STAAR Modified will reflect increased rigor and include more rigorous item types.

  Modified assessments will be developed for all content areas for grades 3-8 that are part of the general STAAR program and for nine of the 12 STAAR end-of-course (EOC) assessments. Modified assessments are not being developed for Algebra II, Chemistry or Physics. High school students who take the STAAR Modified or STAAR Alternate EOC assessments will graduate under the Minimum graduation plan and will not meet acceptance requirements for a four-year state college/university. However, students will be able to participate in other post secondary opportunities that will either lead them toward meeting the requirements for participating in a four-year university program or prepare them for a career/job that does not require a university level degree.

• STAAR Alternate

  The STAAR Alternate assessments will be very similar in design to the TAKS-Alt assessments and continue to reflect an online portfolio created by the special education teacher, which will be submitted to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Students will continue to perform standardized assessment tasks linked to the grade-level Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that measure student progress on skills aligned with the academic grade-level content standards. However, STAAR Alternate will incorporate a vertical alignment in the program’s assessment tasks, and the high school assessments will move from grade-level assessments to course-based assessments.

  The new STAAR Alternate assessments will reflect the same increased rigor and focus of the general and modified assessments. Alternate end-of-course (EOC) exams are not being developed for Algebra II, Chemistry or Physics. High school students who take the STAAR Modified or STAAR Alternate EOC assessments will graduate under the Minimum graduation plan and will not meet acceptance requirements for a four-year state college/university. 

• Will there be a STAAR Accommodated test?

  
  There will not be a specific form of the test called STAAR Accommodated as there was under TAKS. Rather, students needing accommodations will take the general STAAR tests on grade level and be provided with accommodations directed by their ARD/Individual Education Plan (IEP), which comply with the accepted accommodations published by the Texas Education Agency.

• More information from the Special Education Department

  Starting this school year STAAR Alternate will be the only alternate assessment offered for student with significant, cognitive disabilities, grades 3 – 12.  STAAR Alternate will be more rigorous: focus on fewer skills, address skills in a deeper manner and provide a more clearly articulated assessment program.  The ARD Committee will select the STAAR Alternate assessment for students who meet the participation requirements for the student’s enrolled grade level.
  For students in grades 9, 10, 11, 12 and beyond the ARD committee will determine which EOC courses  listed on the minimum plan will be addressed each year.

   

  • Students will be given credit for the TAKS-ALT assessments previously administered for grades 9 and 10 as follows:
  • Previous grade 9 TAKS ALT test in reading will be credited with ELA 1
  • Previous grade 9 TAKS ALT in Math will be credited with Algebra 1
  • Previous grade 10 ELA will be credited with ELA II
  • Previous grade 10 Math will be credited with Geometry
  • Previous grade 10 Science will be credited with Biology
  • Previous grade 10 Social Studies will be credited with World Geography
  • Grade 11 students with disabilities who are assessed using STAAR Alternate for the  2011-12 will take the following assessments prior to graduation: ELA III, World History, and U.S. History.

   

  STAAR, STAAR Modified and STAAR Alternate will be statewide assessment used for grades 3-8.  High school students entering the 2011-2012 school year entering as freshman will be assessed using STAAR End of Course (EOC) assessments. High school students that entered prior to 2011-2012 school year will still be assessed using TAKS, unless the ARD determines that the student must be assessed using an alternate format, therefore a STAAR Alternate would be administered.  Please review the following information from Texas Education Agency (TEA), more information will be forthcoming.
  STAAR will be linked to college readiness standards.  STAAR will emphasize “readiness” standards, defined as those TEKS considered critical for success in the current grade or subject and important for preparedness in the grade or subject that follows.  The test will also include other TEKS that are considered supporting standards and will be assessed, though not emphasized.

   

  Performance standards for STAAR grades 3-8 will not be set until after the spring 2012 administration, only raw score information will be reported prior to the end of the school year.  SSI retest opportunities for STAAR grades 5 and 8 reading and mathematics will not be offered in May and June of 2012.  For the 2011-2012 school year schools will use other relevant information to make promotion/retention decisions, more information will be forth coming from TEA about the Student Success Initiative and the Grade Placement Committee Manual.
  STAAR will be longer, questions will be added to the following  assessments:

  • Math grades 3-6, 6 more questions
  • Reading grades 3-8, 4 more questions
  • Writing, one additional composition
  • Social Studies, 4 more questions
  • EOC, 6 to 10 questions for each subject EOC

   

  For grades 3-8, students are tested in the same grades and subjects: Grades 3-8 reading, 3-8 mathematics, 4 and 7 writing, 5 and 8 science, and 8 social studies.  For high school, twelve end of course tests replace ten grade level tests.  TEA has established a 4 hour limit for each assessment.
  If the student is enrolled in the subject, the subjects tested for End of Course Exams, starting for all 9th graders in the 2011-2012 school year:

  • English I, II, and III
  • Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II
  • Biology, Chemistry, and Physics
  • World Geography, World History, and U.S. History

  If a student is a repeating grade 9 student in 2011-2012, TAKS is still his or her assessment graduation requirement, unless the ARD committee determines that an alternate assessment is appropriate.

   

  STAAR will be formatted with fewer questions on each page, larger print, and similar in design to the TAKS Accommodated test.  TEA does not offer a STAAR accommodated assessment; students who need accommodations on the STAAR test must be ARDed based on state – approved accommodations and routine use in the classroom.  TEA has not provided the approved accommodations, more information will be forthcoming.