Keller ISD Joins Call for Governor Abbott to Abolish STAAR through Special Session 

During the 89th Legislative Session, the Texas Senate halted educator- and parent-led efforts to abolish the State of Texas Assessment for Academic Readiness (STAAR test) despite decades of pleas to reform the state’s high-stakes standardized testing. Keller ISD is now joining with other Texas school districts to call on Governor Greg Abbott to address the Senate’s failure to support educators and parents by convening a special session to finally end outdated testing standards that do not benefit students. 

A plan already exists to abolish the STAAR. The Texas House collaborated with educators and parents to propose transformative legislation that would have dramatically alleviated standardized testing in Texas. The proposal called for shorter tests that monitored student growth and provided instant feedback, allowing educators to personalize learning for each student. The House plan further proposed limiting the number of standardized tests to the federal minimum and using norm-based exams to best measure student progress compared to their peers across the nation while still meeting Texas academic standards. 

When the Texas Senate received the bill, it gutted all provisions to abolish the state’s high-stakes standardized testing system and instead proposed creating a supercharged version of the STAAR test. Instead of collaborating with educators and parents, the Senate heeded calls from special interest lobbyists with no background in education. Its proposal included burdensome provisions that would have provided unchecked power to the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, allowing him or her to modify the test at any point and mandate state takeovers of districts that disagree with changes. 

Proposed Standardized Testing Bills:  

House Proposal 

• Norm-based testing that compares student knowledge to expected knowledge across the nation.  
• A beginning-of-the-year test, middle-of-the-year test, and end-of-the-year test to monitor student growth.  
• Designed for 85% of students to complete with 60, 75, or 90 minutes, depending on test and grade level.  
• Limits testing to the federal minimum number of tests.  
• Requires the adoption of an alternative test for students receiving special education services.  
• Changes would be proposed by the TEA commissioner to the Texas Legislature for approval, and any change would have to be communicated before the school year.  
• Results required no later than 24 hours after a student’s completion of a test.  
• Implementation of an existing, proven, norm-referenced test, such as MAP.  
• Bill consultants included educators and parents.  

Senate Proposal 

• Standards-based testing that requires teachers to “teach to the test.”  
• One major test at the end of the year. Districts would retain the option they already have to implement other tests, but these would not factor into the standardized test.  
• The duration would be up to the TEA commissioner’s discretion, with a request to be “as short as practicable.”  
• No limit on the number of tests, as with the current STAAR.  
• Requires students receiving special education services to take the same test as all students.  
• The TEA commissioner could make changes at any point with no input, including changing the grading criteria after students have taken the test.  
• No timeline for providing results, other than to “allow for results to be provided as quickly as practicable.”  
• Contracting with a company to create a proprietary test at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars.  
• Bill consultants included special interest lobbyists.  

Governor Greg Abbott has remained clear on his public goal for Texas to rank as the top state for education. For two years, the governor has also called on lawmakers to abolish the STAAR test, a necessary step to put Texas on the path to become the top-ranking state for education. Such a move would align public schools with the same testing requirement the Texas Legislature granted private schools in the state’s newly passed taxpayer-funded school voucher program. 

Under the Senate proposal, the STAAR would have been rebranded and left as an assessment tool that forces educators to “teach to the test,” wasting valuable classroom time. In a statement to the Dallas Morning News, one state representative remained firm in his stance that Texas students need actual relief as proposed by the House plan – a belief that Keller ISD fully supports. 

“We need to take the stress away from the kids, the parents, the teachers,” said Rep. Will Metcalf. “Everybody involved is focused on this big, massive test and it’s not healthy for our kids. It’s not healthy for our parents and our educators. And we’ve got to get back to truly educating our kids instead of data collecting.” 

Texas children in public schools deserve the same support lawmakers have provided to their counterparts in private schools. By not addressing the state’s testing system now, students and teachers will be left with the STAAR for several more years. For the sake of students across Texas, Keller ISD requests Governor Abbott hold lawmakers accountable and call a special session to abolish the STAAR.