What’s New with STAAR Assessments

STAAR will be offered on paper and online in all grades and subjects. Districts may administer all grades and subjects of the general STAAR (English version only) tests online to any or all of their students. Beginning Spring 2017 there will be an enhanced online version of the STAAR which will eliminate the need for separate STAAR A and STAAR L test forms going forward. Therefore, STAAR A and STAAR L will both be administered for the last time in December 2016.   The online version of the STAAR with all 3 embedded accommodations and available accessibility features will be comparable to the features that were included in STAAR A.  The online version of the STAAR with language and vocabulary supports and TTS will be comparable to the linguistic accommodations that were included in STAAR L. The enhanced online version of the STAAR will eliminate the need for separate STAAR A and STAAR L test forms going forward. Therefore, STAAR A and STAAR L will both be administered for the last time in December 2016.

• Accommodations will be divided into 3 categories with broader eligibility criteria.
  • Accessibility Features
    • Available to all students who need them
  • Designated Supports
    • The appropriate team of people at the campus level has determined and documented that the student meets the revised eligibility criteria.
  • Designated Supports Requiring TEA Approval
    • The appropriate team of people at the campus level has determined student eligibility and submitted an accommodation request form to TEA
  • Although online accessibility features previously found only on STAAR A (e.g., color, zoom, guideline) will be available to every student taking the STAAR online, the enhanced online version of the STAAR is capable of being better tailored to a student’s individualized needs. A student’s test will be customizable, so that 3 embedded accommodations (i.e., text-to-speech (TTS), language and vocabulary supports, and content supports) may be chosen for eligible students.