Texas school systems have options when selecting Beginning-of-Year (BOY) and Middle-of-Year (MOY) assessments under House Bill 8. Before choosing an alternative Student Success Tool (SST) assessment, districts should consider cost, accessibility, vendor consistency, and additional requirements for Grade 3 students.
HB 8 requires BOY and MOY assessments for all Grades 3–8 state-assessed content areas and makes BOY and MOY optional for End-of-Course exams (EOC). The Texas Education Agency (TEA) will provide computer-adaptive BOY and MOY assessments for all required and optional BOY and MOY assessments. HB 8 also allows school systems to choose a BOY and MOY assessment from a commissioner-approved list.
TEA’s Approved Alternative BOY and MOY Assessments
Under Texas Education Code (TEC), §39.023(q), TEA has published the Commissioner’s List of Approved Alternative BOY and MOY Assessments. Provisional approval was granted to assessments from eight vendors for use as Alternative SST BOY and MOY assessments. This approval begins with the 2027-28 school year and ends at the end of the 2028-29 school year. Vendors must maintain the instrument’s provisional approval status, which may be revised, suspended, or removed if the vendor does not. TEA recommends that the school system not enter into agreements that extend beyond the 2028-29 school year and that include provisions allowing the school system to discontinue use of, or terminate, the agreement for an instrument that is no longer on the TEA-approved list.
Here are some other considerations when choosing which BOY and MOY to administer.
SST Assessment Cost
School systems will be responsible for covering the costs of procuring any of the BOY and MOY assessments on the approved list. TEA will provide its BOY and MOY assessments at no charge.
Accessibility Features From Approved Vendors
Vendors on the approved list may not have approved tests for all subjects. They may not have approved tests for Emergent Bilingual (EB) students in Grades 3–5 who test in Spanish. They may not offer special print versions (large print, braille, etc.) or embedded supports needed by all students. The TEA-provided BOY and MOY assessments will be offered through the current online testing platform with all current accessibility features, and a full suite of special print versions will also be available.
BOY and MOY Assessment Vendor Requirements
A student must take the BOY and MOY assessment for a grade level/content area from the same vendor. A student may take assessments for one content area from one vendor and assessments for another content area from another vendor (i.e., Grade 3 RLA from Amplify Education and Grade 3 Math from Curriculum Associates). Groups of students within a school or school system may take the same grade level and content area test from different vendors (i.e., Grade 4 RLA TEA BOY and MOY for Spanish testers and Grade 4 RLA IXL Learning for English testers).
Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA)
The choice of BOY and MOY assessments should match what is in your TIA plan for calculating growth. Please note: If you need to administer an End-of-Year assessment from a third-party vendor for TIA (or for any other reason), you must do so after the state-required EOY assessment administration.
Grade 3 Assessment Requirements Under HB 2 and HB 8
Students in Grade 3 are subject to both the House Bill 2 (HB2) foundational literacy and numeracy instrument requirements and the HB8 SST BOY and MOY assessments. School systems that administer an alternative BOY and MOY assessment that does not meet HB2 foundational literacy and numeracy requirements must administer a separate approved instrument to Grade 3 students to meet the requirements of HB2. Three approved HB8 RLA alternative assessment vendors and five approved HB8 math alternative assessment vendors are approved for HB2. The TEA-provided SST BOY and MOY assessments will meet both HB2 and HB8 requirements for Grade 3 students.
It is the responsibility of the school system to ensure that any instrument used to meet TEC §39.023(q) requirements appears on the applicable TEA-approved list at the time of administration.
Resources
For additional state assessment resources, visit our website. View our STAAR vs. Student Success Tool (SST): Side-by-Side Comparison and download your own copy. Read additional STAAR and SST-related blog posts on the ESC Region 13 blog. View our SST playlist on YouTube. Contact our ESC Region 13 State Assessment Specialist with additional questions or needs.
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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