In a press release on Tuesday morning, Northwest ISD called on Governor Greg Abbott to call a special session to abolish the STAAR test.
The district said getting rid of the “high-stakes, standardized testing system” is a necessary step in Abbott’s goal for Texas to become the top-ranking state for education.
“We need to take the stress away from the kids, the parents, the teachers,” said state representative Will Metcalf in a statement from the release. “Everybody involved is focused on this big, massive test and it’s not healthy for our kids and it’s not healthy for our educators.”
In 2023, Abbott’s office put out a statement, saying House members that supported the idea grew once they found out STAAR would be eliminated.
If the test were eliminated, the move “would align public schools with the same testing requirement the Texas Legislature granted private schools in the newly-passed taxpayer-funded school voucher program,” according to the release.
During the 89th Legislative Session, the Texas House worked with educators and parents to propose House Bill 4 that would make tests shorter and monitored student growth with instant feedback.
The district said it would allow educators to personalize learning for each student.
It also proposed limiting the number of standardized tests to the federal minimum and using norm-based exams to measure student progress compared to student across the nation.
The Senate received the bill and “gutted all provisions to abolish the test,” according to the district.
NISD said the Senate’s plan would have rebranded the test and left it as an assessment tool that “forces educators to ‘teach to the test’, wasting valuable classroom time.”
“We’ve got to get back to truly educating our kids instead of data collecting,” said Metcalf.
HB 4 passed the Senate’s vote, but died before it reached the governor’s desk.
“For the sake of students across Texas, Northwest ISD requests Governor Abbott hold lawmakers accountable and call a special session to abolish the STAAR,” read the statement.
For the full statement, and to see NISD’s graphic showing the differences between the House proposal and the Senate’s proposal, click here.
