For all subjects except Science, the assessments test content students studied in that year, as opposed to testing content studied over multiple years. The STAAR assessments are designed to be more difficult than TAKS. The difficulty level is increased by including the following changes:

• There are more questions per test.
• In Reading, greater emphasis is given to critical analysis than to literal understanding.
• In Writing, students are required to write three essays and the test is given over two days.
• In Science and Mathematics, the number of open-ended items increases to allow students more opportunity to derive an answer independently rather than selecting a response from those provided.
• There is a 4 hour time limit for each test.
• STAAR assessments measure college and career readiness.
• Students enrolled in a high school level course in 8th grade take the End-of-Course exam for that subject.

School districts will not know what score will be considered Satisfactory Performance on the STAAR grade 3-8 test until the fall of 2012.  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) identified three performance categories for the grade 3-8 STAAR tests –

• Level lll: Advanced Academic Performance – Performance at this level indicates that a student is well prepared for the next grade or course. Students have a high likelihood of success in the next grade or course with little or no need for academic interventions.
• Level ll:  Satisfactory Academic Performance - Performance in this category indicates that students are sufficiently prepared for the next grade or course. They have a reasonable likelihood of success in the next grade or course but may need short-term, targeted academic intervention.
• Level l:  Unsatisfactory Academic Performance - Performance in this category indicates that students are inadequately prepared for the next grade or course. Students in this category are unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without significant, on-going academic intervention.

The TEA will not identify cut scores for each level until the fall of 2012, therefore students tested during the spring of 2012 do not have performance results on the new STAAR test. TEA has indicated parents and students should receive their confidential student report in January 2013.

Yes, the Student Success Initiative (SSI) requires that students in grades 5 and 8 pass both the reading and math exams to be promoted to the next grade.

Middle school students who are enrolled in a high school level course required for graduation such as Algebra l will be required to take the End-of-Course (EOC) exam for that course. However, students in grades 6-8 may not be denied promotion based on unsatisfactory performance on STAAR EOC exams.

A middle school student who takes STAAR EOC during the spring of 2013 or thereafter will have that STAAR EOC test count as part of their cumulative score requirement for graduation and will count as 15% of the final grade for that course.  (e.g., a middle school student who completes Algebra 1 during the spring of 2013 will have those test results count as 15% of their final Algebra 1 course grade and those test results will become part of the cumulative score requirement for graduation.) Note: Middle School students who took a STAAR EOC test during Spring 2012 will use the results as part of their cumulative score requirements but the score did not count as 15% of the official grade.