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 students take depends on their grade level. This article discusses some of the STAAR’s Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.
STAAR General Questions
Question: Can students administered STAAR tests have printed copies of TEA-furnished reference documents and/or dictionaries, hand-held calculators, and blank paper?
Answer: Each of these materials is handled slightly differently. See an explanation for each below:
- TEA-Furnished Reference Materials: Yes. Although districts do not have to provide printed copies of reference materials, they may still give them to testers. Students do not have to request these materials to receive them.
- Dictionaries: Yes. Furnished dictionaries must meet the STAAR Dictionary Policy.
- Calculators: Yes. Students may use a calculator if the STAAR test they are taking allows it or if they have an accommodation permitting calculator use. All calculators must meet the STAAR Calculator Policy criteria, which now supports hand-held calculators.
- Blank Paper: Yes. Students taking any Math STAAR test must be provided with actual blank scratch paper. Students taking any other STAAR test may have blank scratch paper at the school/district’s discretion.
Question: If students leave school for the day, can they continue testing when they return?
Answer: It depends on why they left school. If the student leaves due to illness, they may continue on another day within the testing window. The student can view all questions but will not be able to edit any responses marked or constructed responses begun before leaving. If they leave school for any other reason (e.g., a doctor’s appointment), they may not return to the test when they return to school. The school determines if enough of the test was completed to merit having it scored.
STAAR Accommodation Questions
Question: If a student has the Oral Administration accommodation, what can the test administrator read aloud to the student?
Answer: An Oral Administration of a STAAR test must be delivered through either the TTS application embedded in the online test system or a third-party application. The embedded TTS application will not read the following:
- Embedded TEA-furnished reference documents
- Definitions from the online dictionary
- Word lists from the embedded Text-prediction application
The test administrator may read any of these during an Oral Administration. However, the administrator should avoid reading directly from the student’s device whenever possible.
Question: Can any student have the constructed response prompts read aloud to them?
Answer: No. Only students who have the Oral Administration accommodation.
Question: Can Emergent Bilingual (EB) students whose parents have refused EB/ESL services still receive accommodations from their language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC)?
Answer: Yes. Beginning with the 2024-25 school year, EB students whose parents have refused services may receive linguistic support on STAAR tests based on LPAC recommendations (see the Updated Guidance on Serving Emergent Bilingual Students TAA dated August 22, 2024). Linguistic support includes Oral Administration and Content and Language Supports accommodations.
STAAR Accessibility Questions
Question: Can a student taking the grade 3 STAAR Math test have a word read to them as an accessibility feature?
Answer: Yes; however, this is done through the TTS application. Test administrators can not provide this accessibility feature to students.
TTS is enabled from TIDE for a student to receive it during testing. The appropriate way to handle this for grade 3 Math is for the teacher to note which students need this accessibility feature in class throughout the year, give that list to their Testing Coordinator just before testing, and for the Testing Coordinator to enable TTS for those students in TIDE before testing. TEA Student Assessment has said that turning on TTS for all grade 3 students for the math STAAR does not invalidate the validity or reliability of the STAAR test and may, at the school/district’s discretion, be done.
Any student who has TTS enabled must be provided headphones for testing.
Question: The embedded dictionary will read the entry word for the student. Do we need to provide all students taking a Reading Language Arts (RLA) STAAR test with headphones?
Answer: No. The volume should be turned down to a minimum on student devices for RLA testing.
Conclusion
It is important to stay current with state test updates. See our full STAAR FAQ document here. View all previous questions and answers. Don’t see what you need to know? Submit a question to our STAAR team at staar@esc13.txed.net.
For a full list of our STAAR resources and available training, visit our STAAR webpage. Go to our blog for more articles on various aspects of STAAR.
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.
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