High-stakes testing isn’t about learning—it’s about control. In Texas, it’s used to shake kids’ confidence, push out experienced teachers, and justify hostile takeovers of school districts.
This powerful piece from the Austin Chronicle lays bare the ugly history and political games behind STAAR and the so-called “accountability” bills moving through the Legislature. Every parent, teacher, and voter should read it.
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Below are several excerpts for those of you on the run!“It turns out that taking all the teachers at a low-income school that already had a 20% annual turnover rate, and getting rid of all of them – including the ones that had been there for years and actually knew the kids and the families – isn’t a recipe for success.”-Louis Malfaro, Austin Voices for Education and Youth
“With ESSA’s passage (replacing No Child Left Behind in 2015), many states abandoned the sanctions that had been integral to No Child Left Behind. Texas didn’t. The same year ESSA was approved, our (Texas) lawmakers passed House Bill 1842, a law codifying most of No Child Left Behind’s punitive rules. It remains in effect.”
Measuring Poverty and Calling It Performance: “Economically secure students score better on STAAR for several reasons, researchers theorize. They are typically fluent in English. Their families move to new homes less, so they attend school more regularly. All of these are highly correlated with academic success…Those new to the country have a one-year buffer period before they begin receiving scores on STAAR. Afterward, regardless of where they are with their English acquisition, the scores count.
“TEA controls the STAAR test. They’re able to manipulate it internally. And so if the commissioner wants to have a good year – let’s say Greg Abbott is running for reelection and he wants to point to school improvement – well, the commissioner can deliver him that school improvement. And likewise, if it’s a legislative year, and we want to show how (bad) the public schools are, so that we can pass private school vouchers, the commissioner will accommodate. It’s such a corrupt system.”
“When the 2023 A-F grades based on the new STAAR results were released this April, scores for schools across the state collapsed. One in five schools received a D or F rating – a 233% increase over the previous year.”
One has to wonder if Abbott and Morath rigged this year’s STAAR results to make takeovers look like a solution and further push their voucher agenda. The timing is just too convenient. But here’s the truth: takeovers hurt kids. They don’t improve learning—they make things worse.
In related news, House Bill 4 passed the Texas House on May 13 (143-1) and the Senate’s sharply different version passed in their chamber on May 27 (23-8) with the House version replacing STAAR with three shorter, norm-referenced assessments throughout the year. With the legislative session ending June 2, lawmakers have little time to reconcile these sharply different versions or risk defaulting to STAAR.
The House version eliminated tests not required by federal law and curbed the TEA commissioner’s authority, but the Senate’s rewrite rolled back those reforms, reviving elements from its failed SB 1962. It keeps the mandatory social studies test, gives TEA more grading flexibility, and discourages lawsuits over A-F ratings—empowering the commissioner to appoint a conservator to districts that sue, a step closer to state takeover. Read more in the Texas Tribune story updated May 28th.
While the Senate version is clearly worse, both miss the bigger picture: It is time to finally invest in schools in under resourced communities with low STAAR scores, rather than punishing them with the flawed A-F accountability system.
What is best for kids-punishment or support?
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