Butch has worked with testing and accountability for over 15 years at the campus, district, regional, and state levels. Originally from North Carolina, Butch is the State Assessment Specialist for the Education Service Center Region 13, helping district test coordinators and others navigate the world of STAAR and TELPAS testing. He is available to answer any of your state testing policy and procedure questions.
Each year, Texas requires students to take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The STAAR is based on state curriculum standards in the core subject areas of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Testing starts in the spring, and the number of tests...
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) Student Assessment offers districts and campuses optional assessment resources. These free resources provide tools to create a balanced...
The state of Texas has provided updates for the State Test Report for 2024-2025. The article includes information on the 2025 TELPAS, Centralized Reporting System (CRS)...
Each year, Student Assessment considers recommendations from stakeholders on updates to state testing accommodations. This helps “level the playing field” for students...
As we enter the 2024-25 school year, students, educators, and parents alike are keenly interested in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness schedule...
Sorting Misconceptions vs. Reality for STAAR Automated Scoring The Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) announcement regarding the use of an Automated Scoring Engine (ASE) to...
HB 3906 (2019) and HB 3261 (2021) required that new item types be developed for the STAAR tests. HB 3261 changed §39.023 (c-8) to read, “Beginning with the 2022-2023...
As a result of House Bill (HB) 3906, passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019, the STAAR tests are undergoing a major redesign that will affect how students are...
The STAAR redesign required by HB 3261 (2021) has implications for many aspects of STAAR administration beyond new item types, writing assessments, and online testing...
In general, the STAAR EOC participation requirements state that a student “should take the STAAR EOC assessments—Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology, and U.S...
