What is STAAR/EOC/STAAR ALT 2?

The STAAR/ EOC assessment tests students’ mastery of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for a given course and determines college and career readiness. These are required tests and all STAAR/EOC assessments must be taken in person, scholars are not allowed to take their STAAR/EOC virtually according to TEA guidelines.  Please reach out to your scholar’s campus for more information regarding if your scholar will be completing an EOC for April and May Administration. 

Who takes STAAR/ EOC?

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR^®) program, which was implemented in spring 2012, includes annual assessments for

• ELAR and mathematics, grades 3–8
• science at grades 5 and 8
• social studies at grade 8
• end-of-course (EOC) assessments for English I, English II, Algebra I, Biology and U.S history

Who takes STAAR ALT 2?

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Alternate (STAAR® Alternate) is an alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards and is designed for students receiving special education services who meet specific participation requirements. STAAR Alternate is provided to meet the diverse needs of students with significant cognitive disabilities enrolled in grade 3 through high school.

STAAR Alternate is not a traditional paper or multiple-choice test. Teachers observe a student completing state-developed assessment tasks that link to the grade-level Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) curriculum. Each knowledge and skills statement has been summarized into an “essence” or main idea statement. Each subject includes four essence statements for which students are assessed. Each of the essence statements include three standardized assessment tasks of varying complexity developed from state-selected prerequisite skills. Teachers select the most appropriate assessment task for a given student based on the developmental level of the student.

What do STAAR/ EOC/ STAAR ALT 2 results tell me about my child?

STAAR measures grade-level concepts and skills that students need to learn to stay on track from year to year. It is a cumulative test that happens at the end of the year to allow teachers to see how much a student has learned over the past year and where they may still need support. STAAR measures how well students met the grade level expectations in each subject determined by the Texas State Board of Education in partnership with educators. It shows how prepared a student is for the next grade level, and where they may need additional support to accelerate learning.

STAAR is only one way to measure learning, and it isn’t meant to tell the whole story. It’s meant to be combined with report card grades, teacher input, and classwork, to give families and teachers a more complete picture of student learning.