Updates for the 2022–2023 School Year

      

  • Based on input from educators, the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) has been updated to include numerous enhancements. Refer to the TIDE Enhancements for the 2022–2023 School Year training module in the Learning Management System (LMS) for more information.

    • A new TIDE messaging indicator will serve as an electronic bulletin board where important information can be rapidly shared. Anyone logging in to TIDE is alerted to new announcements by a colored banner at the top of the screen.

    • For students who need to test outside of their enrolled district, the enrolled district can indicate a secondary testing district and campus on an individual student’s record in TIDE by using the Testing Region, Testing District, and Testing Campus fields in the Student Demographics section or by using the Upload Student task or Upload Additional Student Fields task. For more information, refer to the TIDE User Guide.

    • The sections on the View/Edit/Export Student task have been reorganized.

    • There is a new Section 504 Plan Indicator field available in TIDE in the Add Student task and on the downloadable template available in the Upload Student Information task.

    • The student attributes fields available in the Add Student and View/Edit/Export Student tasks have been updated.

    • There is a separate eligibility indicator field for each State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) end-of-course (EOC) test administration: December, Spring, and June.

    • The Administration Task dropdown menu has been revised.

  • Based on input from educators, the LMS has been reorganized around the following training activities:

    • Prepare for Testing Activities

    • Test Administration Activities

    • After Testing Activities

    • Holistic Raters

    • Texas Formative Assessment Resource

  • Beginning with the 2022–2023 school year, the Centralized Reporting System (CRS) will be used as a teacher portal where educators will be able to access student results for the entire Texas Assessment Program. Last year educators used CRS to access individual student performance, class performance, and disaggregated test results for optional assessments such as STAAR Interim Assessments. This year districts will need to provide teachers with access to CRS to be able to use this system to view and analyze test results for summative assessments such as STAAR. It is important to note that districts will need to upload rosters to enable teacher access to their students’ test results. Refer to the Centralized Reporting System overview training in the LMS for more information.

  • Beginning with the 2022–2023 school year, districts will no longer have to request a special administration of an online assessment for STAAR or the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS). Instead, districts are responsible for confirming a student has met the eligibility criteria for a special administration of an online assessment. To indicate that a student is eligible for a special administration of an online assessment, the student must have either the Special Ed Indicator Code or the Section 504 Indicator Code turned on in TIDE. In addition, the district will need to set the Test Mode field to “Paper” and select the specific paper test format in the new Paper Test Format field for that student prior to the close of an administration’s initial order window. It is important to note that there are no longer answer documents; therefore, student responses for special administrations of online assessments must be entered into the Data Entry Interface (DEI). For more information, refer to the Special Administration of an Online Assessment page.

  • For online assessments, such as STAAR and TELPAS, campuses now have the option to administer either a proctored or unproctored test session. With the new proctored test sessions, test administrators can actively monitor, from the Test Administrator Interface of the Test Delivery System (TDS), the progress of each student logged in to his or her test session. Refer to the How to Create a Test Session training video on the Online Administration page.

  • When ordering materials for the 2022–2023 school year, please note the following updates:

    • Districts can start placing additional orders on the last day of the initial order delivery window.

    • All requests for additional orders will be reviewed and verified using student enrollment numbers and the Test Mode and Paper Test Format indicators.

    • STAAR paper with embedded supports tests will be available to order during both the initial order window and the additional order window.

  • Beginning with the 2022–2023 school year, the Oath of Test Security and Confidentiality for Superintendents and Chief Administrative Officers has been reduced to one part. These individuals are now required to sign a test security oath only one time per year, before any state testing has begun.

  • Beginning with the spring 2023 administration, STAAR assessments have been redesigned, as required by House Bill (HB) 3906, enacted in 2019 by the 86th Texas Legislature. This redesign includes

    • the addition of new non-multiple-choice questions that give students more ways to show their understanding and better reflect questions teachers ask in the classroom;

    • the addition of a writing component to reading assessments for grades 3–8 to better support the interconnected way these subjects are taught; and

    • the incorporation of more cross-curricular passages into the new reading language arts (RLA) assessments so that test questions can reference topics students have learned about in other classes.

  • As required by HB 3261, enacted in 2021 by the 87th Texas Legislature, STAAR will become an online testing program beginning with the December 2022 administration. Students are expected to test online with the exception of students who require accommodations that cannot be provided online or students in specific settings where computers or technology are unavailable. In these rare and unavoidable circumstances, a student may be eligible for a special paper administration of an online STAAR test. It is important to note that STAAR will now have separate test booklets for each grade/subject and that student responses must be entered into DEI, as there are no longer any answer documents. Refer to the Special Administration of an Online Assessment section for more information.

  • Starting in spring 2023, STAAR will be administered during three two-week testing windows, with one window for each content-area grouping: RLA, science and social studies, and mathematics.

    • Each district and campus may schedule the specific content-area tests on any day within the corresponding two-week testing window, except for Monday of week 1, the primary week.

    • Although there are three separate testing windows based on content area, these testing windows are considered one administration—the spring STAAR administration.

  • Based on feedback from educators, parents, and students, as well as other changes to the STAAR program, TEA is removing the maximum time allowed for STAAR assessments. Districts will no longer have to stop students from testing after a four- or five-hour testing period. Students are expected to complete STAAR tests in about three hours; however, any student who needs additional time may continue testing until the end of the school day.

  • With the transition to online testing for the STAAR program, the majority of the test directions for students will be moved to the online testing environment and will appear at the beginning of the tests. As a result, one STAAR Test Administrator Manual will contain instructions for all STAAR tests, including grades 3–8 and EOC assessments. The STAAR Test Administrator Manual will be distributed to districts in two shipments, one for the December administration and one for the spring administration.

  • Beginning this school year, the Test Delivery System (TDS) includes a new online annotation tool that allows students to use a draggable semitransparent overlay to make on-screen annotations such as points and lines, choose the number of grid lines, and free trace.

  • Beginning this spring, STAAR Alternate 2 image cards will be at the front of the test materials packages to simplify district scanning.

  • Initial orders will be viewable in TIDE after they have been submitted. Districts can view, but not edit, the materials they will receive.

  • All STAAR Alternate 2 RLA assessments will include an additional field-test cluster of four test questions, for a total of 28 questions. Test administrators should use scoring documents specific to RLA tests to correctly enter all 28 item responses.

  • Beginning this spring, TELPAS will include a combined online reading and writing test. Districts will no longer need to holistically rate writing samples for students in grades 2–12.

  • The calculation of years in U.S. schools is changing from consecutive school days to consecutive calendar days.

  • The calculation of years in U.S. schools is changing from consecutive school days to consecutive calendar days.