TEA PAUSES A-F RATINGS FOR 2020-21 SCHOOL YEAR; STAAR TESTING WILL CONTINUE

  

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has announced that A-F ratings will be paused for the 2020-21 school year due to COVID-19, but STAAR tests will proceed.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the current pandemic has “disrupted school operations in fundamental ways that have often been outside the control of our school leaders,” making it more difficult to use the A-F ratings as a tool to support student academic growth.

The TEA said STAAR testing will continue for the current school year in order to provide critical information about individual student learning for use by teachers and parents.  For schools that incorporate STAAR results into teacher evaluations, the TEA said it will provide flexibility to allow them to remove that component this year.

TEA officials said STAAR results will allow schools, teachers, and parents to see how students are performing, while also giving education leaders and policymakers across the state a picture of the “sweeping impacts of the pandemic on student learning.”

School systems are required to make STAAR testing available to every eligible student.  Tests will be administered on school campuses across the state or at other secure alternative testing sites.  Testing will not be used for accountability purposes this school year.