The Texas Assessment Program is a statewide testing program that includes the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR), STAAR Alternate 2, the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), and TELPAS Alternate. These assessments were created to fulfill both state and federal requirements. The student assessment program is designed to measure the extent to which a student has learned and is able to apply the defined knowledge and skills at each tested grade or the extent to which a student has developed English language proficiency.
Grades 3–8 [E] [M]
Students in grades 3 through 8 will take state-mandated assessments as well as routine testing and other measures of achievement:
- Mathematics, annually in Grades 3–8 ;
- Reading Language Arts, annually in Grades 3–8;
- Social Studies in Grade 8;
- Science in Grades 5 and 8
Certain eligible students—some with disabilities and some with Limited English Proficiency—may be eligible for designated support during the STAAR® test.
High School Courses[H]
EOC®
Regardless of enrolled grade level, students should take the STAAR EOC assessments as they are completing the corresponding courses since these assessments are required for high school graduation based on TEC, 39.025. No student should attempt an EOC assessment if only half of the course credit has been earned or the student has not completed 90% of the curriculum.
Accelerated students who complete STAAR EOC testing requirements in middle school for a particular content area are required to take the ACT or the SAT once in high school to fulfill federal testing requirements.
Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)
The Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) fulfills federal requirements for assessing the English language proficiency of Emergent Bilinguals (EB) in Kindergarten through grade 12 in four language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. TELPAS reports student performance in terms of four English language proficiency levels: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and advanced high.
Accelerated Instruction
Any student who does not perform satisfactorily on a STAAR® assessment will be provided accelerated instruction in the applicable subject. Each time a student fails to perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument, the school shall provide the student with accelerated instruction in the applicable subject. A student failing to perform satisfactorily on an end-of-course assessment and/or STAAR must be provided the appropriate accelerated instruction. Accelerated instruction may require participation of the student before or after normal school hours.