House debates school accountability and state testing bill

After a long day on the House floor, the House Public Education Committee reconvened around 9:30 p.m. April 29 to discuss over a dozen bills. The most anticipated was HB 4 by Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Salado), which aims to readjust the A-F accountability system and revamp state testing.

Most educators have a negative opinion of the STAAR test and after almost two decades, legislators are considering other options. Students have suffered from increasing test anxiety due to the exam's high stakes and teachers in tested subjects feel forced to "teach to the test" to avoid negative consequences for their school districts. Parents feel their children's stress and school administrators often experience significant pressure to raise test scores from district leaders. At the hearing, a number of those in attendance wore shirts with "ELIMINATE THE STAAR!" emblazoned on the front as they waited to testify. 

State testing

HB 4 would begin a pilot of through-year testing to replace the current end-of-year summative testing. Instead of a single test over the entire year's curriculum, through-year tests would be smaller, more focused assessments at checkpoints throughout the year. Results of these tests are intended to be available within 24 hours so that teachers can adjust their instruction and parents can get a clear picture of where their children might need additional support  at home. Currently, there would be two assessments throughout the year before a final exam, with each of those three exams taking significantly less time than STAAR.

A-F accountability system

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TEA paused its release of accountability ratings due to a variety of factors, including the learning loss experienced by almost all students as schools closed and shifted to virtual learning. TEA resumed rating schools in the 2022-23 school year, but changed some of the cut scores for those ratings in a way that would have lowered scores across the board. Claiming that TEA did not give sufficient notice of the rule changes, many school districts banded together to sue TEA and prevent the release of those ratings. The 2023 ratings were finally released last week after a court ruling on the case.

HB 4 makes more changes to the A-F accountability system, shifting weights between the three domains (Student Achievement, School Progress and Closing the Gaps) and further shifting weights within each domain. The first two of those domains for elementary and middle schools are currently only based on STAAR scores, but would include other non-testing factors under the bill's new framework.

As with any proposed upheaval to systems within public education, HB 4 is sure to attract more feedback from stakeholders as it goes through the process and could change significantly before it reaches the House floor. TCTA will keep you updated as the bill progresses.