Announcement

TIA Guidance on STAAR Progress Measures for 2022-2023

For all districts with an approved TIA Step 1: System Application, Cohorts A-E, using the STAAR Progress Measure, please review the update and options listed below. If your district does not use the STAAR Progress Measure, please disregard this announcement.

TEA announced on July 8, 2022, the following STAAR-related changes that will impact local designation systems in districts participating in the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

For the 2022-2023 school year, reading language arts (RLA) and mathematics STAAR Progress Measures will not be available.
Starting with the 2022-2023 school year, transition tables will be utilized for the School Progress, Part A: Academic Growth domain of the academic accountability system, in place of the STAAR Progress Measure. STAAR Progress Measures are anticipated to be available again in 203-2024 for districts that choose to use it for TIA; however, it will no longer be used in accountability. For detailed information on this new accountability measure, please refer to the Preliminary 2023 Academic Accountability System Framework and the 2023 Accountability Development Materials.

In response to there being no STAAR Progress Measure for the upcoming school year, the TIA team is providing alternatives for districts to employ in their local designation system. This information was shared with district TIA leads via email on July 11th. If your district TIA lead has changed, or you did not receive this email, please reach out to tia@tea.texas.gov.

Next Steps for Districts to Proceed

  1.  Review the alternatives provided below for the 2022-2023 school year.
  2.  Consider how these changes could impact your district’s local designation system.
  3.  Engage stakeholders, especially teachers who are directly affected, regarding the option that best fits your district’s needs.
  4.  Inform stakeholders, especially teachers affected by this decision, which option your district chooses.
  5.  Complete the Qualtrics form to indicate which option your district will use to replace the STAAR Progress Measure for the 2022-2023 school year and beyond.
  6.  If your district elects to change your chosen option in the future, after the 2022-2023 school year, you will need to submit an Expansion/Modification application by April 15, 2023.
  7.  Attend an Office Hour session for further information and to address any specific questions you might have.  Office Hour session details were sent to all district TIA contacts. Please be sure to check your inboxes and reach out to tia@tea.texas.gov with any questions.

Additionally, there will be a slight change in the content of the Beginning of Year (BOY) assessments for fall 2022. The BOY Assessments will be the released versions of the Spring 2022 STAAR exam. While not a newly created test, this option will give districts a strong diagnostic measure of student performance on the STAAR scale. Districts should review the released test against the assessed standards and new item types to determine if supplemental items are required and how this impacts a student’s expected growth target. All BOY Assessments are scored automatically and reported in Cambium’s Centralized Reporting System (CRS), where both STAAR and STAAR Interim results are reported. Districts that were using the BOY Assessments as part of their local designation system do not need to take any further action. We are sharing the slight change in the content of the BOY Assessments, for informational purposes only.

Alternatives to the STAAR Progress Measure for the 2022-2023 School Year

Option 1: Use Transition Tables from TEA (Recommended)

Districts can choose to replace the STAAR Progress Measure permanently with transition tables. Districts that choose this option will include all teaching assignments that formerly applied to STAAR Progress Measure and could choose to add additional teaching assignments that apply to transition tables:

  •     All previously included teaching assignments that used the STAAR Progress Measure (4-8 Math/ELA, Algebra 1, English 2)
  •     English 1
  •     Courses that primarily teach students who need to retake one or more STAAR assessments
  •     Courses that teach students who are moving from a Spanish Language RLA STAAR to an English Language RLA STAAR

Please note that this will be a permanent change to your local designation system. If your district would like to use another option during the 2023-2024 school year, your district will need to complete an Expansion/Modification application in Spring 2023.

Option 2: Calculate Expected Growth Locally

Districts could choose to use results from the spring 2022 STAAR to set expected growth targets locally. There are several methods districts could use to calculate expected growth. For more information, please see Setting Expected Growth Targets Webinar and Sample Models for Setting Expected Growth.

Please note that this will be a permanent change to your local designation system. If your district would like to use another option during the 2023-2024 school year, your district will need to complete an Expansion/Modification application in Spring 2023.

Option 3: Use 3rd Party Assessment and Vendor-Created Growth Targets

Districts can choose to use vendor-created assessments that set expected growth targets as part of their assessment system. If your district elects to use this option, you will need to specify which third-party assessment is being used to replace the STAAR Progress Measure.

Please note that selecting one of the options below will be a permanent change to your local designation system. If your district would like to use another option during the 2023-2024 school year, your district will need to complete an Expansion/Modification application in Spring 2023.

Option 4: Use Previously Approved Growth Measure(s) from other Eligible Teaching Assignments

Districts may choose to use a previously approved growth measure from other eligible teaching assignments to replace the STAAR Progress Measure. For example, if a district was previously approved to use SLOs as a student growth measure for their world language teachers, SLOs could serve as the student growth measure for teacher categories that were using the STAAR Progress Measure.

Please note that this option will be a permanent change to your local designation system. If your district would like to change the growth measure during the 2023-2024 school year, your district will need to complete an Expansion/Modification application in Spring 2023.

Option 5: Remove Eligible Teaching Assignments

Districts may choose to remove eligible teaching assignments that previously utilized the STAAR Progress Measure from their local designation system.

Please note that this option will be a permanent change to your local designation system. If your district would like to add back these eligible teaching assignments during the 2023-2024 school year, your district will need to complete an Expansion/Modification application in Spring 2023.