A state senator is asking the Texas education commissioner to temporarily end the use of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness to measure school performance.
In a letter sent today to Education Commissioner Mike Morath, Senator Jose Menedez of San Antonio has introduced legislation to put a moratorium of two years on the use of the STAAR test as a measure of school performance after reports have indicated that students are being unfairly tested at the wrong grade level.
Menendez says the test measures student achievement on average two to three years above grade level.
“If the STAAR test is going to be used as an accountability measure, it must be a just and appropriate test,” Sen. Menendez wrote. “Many students, teachers and schools are set up for failure by the currently flawed standardized testing. As the father of school-age children, I have no doubt that other parents are as disturbed by this revelation as I am. This isn’t something we can wait and figure out. Students, teachers, administrators, and entire districts are being judged based on a testing procedure that could be fatally flawed. This requires urgent and decisive action.”
Read more: State Rep. files legislation to end STAAR testing
