State Rep. Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin) is the latest lawmaker to join the movement toward suspending the high-stakes accountability ratings of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam through May 2021.
Ashby sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott requesting that he ask the federal government to waive the STAAR requirements although funding is tied to the assessment, according to media reports.
“If the federal Department of Education does not give us a waiver to not take the test, then we may have funding cut,” said Tera Collum, executive director of the Travis Institute of Educational Policy, an education advocacy organization in Texas. ”The question to ask is whether it’s worth it for the state to lose billions of dollars to rid the state of this test.”
The Wichita Falls Independent School District, Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Denton), Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Travis) and Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) also announced their support in favor of waiving accountability ratings after Abbott suspended the controversial testing program in May due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
“In March of this year, you wisely waived the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) requirements for the 2019-2020 school year,” Ashby said in the July 10 letter. “Your thoughtful decision to alleviate the burden of standardized tests at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates not only your commitment to the health and well-being of our educational community but also reflects a compassionate understanding of the challenges posed by high-stakes testing – especially in this time of uncertainty.”
STAAR results are used to evaluate performance in reading, writing, math, science and social studies for 3rd- through 12th-grade students. Currently there are about 5.4 million students in Texas, according to the Texas Education Agency.
“As a member of the House Committee on Public Education during the 86th legislative session, I was fortunate to participate in the crafting of historic legislation that promotes and prioritizes greater equity in public schools to achieve greater academic success,” Ashby wrote to Abbott. “Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undermine the progress we’ve made through its inherently disproportionate effect on students and teachers.”
As previously reported in the Lone Star Standard, the coronavirus has caused inconsistent student participation and other virtual learning deficiencies while coronavirus numbers have risen throughout the state.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services reported 275,058 coronavirus cases and 3,332 fatalities as of July 14.
“The amount of state representatives that are speaking out is huge,” Collum told the Lone Star Standard. “This is the time to contact legislators and ask for the state to ban the STAAR and high-stakes testing. The number of parents and teachers that are against high-stakes testing is growing larger than the public may have guessed.”
An Opt-Out Texas Facebook group helps parents demand their children not be subjected to the STAAR, and Teachers for Texas has begun circulating a petition.
