Performance and proficiency levels are related to the difficulty of the questions on the assessment and the number of points students must earn to meet a specific performance or proficiency level. Performance and proficiency levels are set on the original form of the assessment for each grade/subject, course, or domain and do not change from year to year. When different questions are used in another administration, the difficulty of the questions, and thus the overall difficulty of the assessment, might fluctuate. The number of points (i.e., the raw score) required to meet a specific performance or proficiency level on the assessment is adjusted to maintain a constant level of difficulty year after year.
The performance and proficiency levels that are applicable to each assessment program are described below.
STAAR Performance Levels |
Masters Grade Level Performance in this category indicates that students are expected to succeed in the next grade or course with little or no academic intervention. Students in this category demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in varied contexts, both familiar and unfamiliar. Meets Grade Level Performance in this category indicates that students are highly likely to succeed in the next grade or course but might still need some short-term, targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Approaches Grade Level Performance in this category indicates that students are likely to succeed in the next grade or course with targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Did Not Meet Grade Level Performance in this category indicates that students are unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without significant, ongoing academic intervention. Students in this category do not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills.
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Refer to the STAAR Performance Standards webpage for more information, including the minimum scale scores for each performance level.
STAAR Alternate 2 Performance Levels |
Level III: Accomplished Academic Performance Performance in this category indicates that students are well prepared for the next grade or course with instructional supports for accessing the curriculum through prerequisite skills. Students demonstrate a strong understanding of the knowledge and skills that are linked to the content measured for the grade or course assessed. Students exhibit the ability to use higher-level thinking and more complex skills, which includes making inferences and comparisons and solving multistep problems. With support, students in this category have a high likelihood of showing progress in the next grade or course. Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance Performance in this category indicates that students are sufficiently prepared for the next grade or course with instructional supports for accessing the curriculum through prerequisite skills. Students demonstrate sufficient understanding of the knowledge and skills that are linked to the content measured for the grade or course assessed. Students exhibit the ability to determine relationships, integrate multiple pieces of information, extend details, identify concepts, and match concepts that are similar. With continued support, students in this category have a reasonable likelihood of showing progress in the next grade or course. Level I: Developing Academic Performance Performance in this category indicates that students require additional instructional supports for accessing the curriculum through prerequisite skills. Students can recognize some concepts, but they demonstrate a minimal or inconsistent understanding of the knowledge and skills that are linked to the content measured in this grade or course. Even with continued support, students in this category need significant intervention to show progress in the next grade or course.
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Refer to the STAAR Alternate 2 Performance Standards webpage for more information, including the minimum scale scores for each performance level.
TELPAS Proficiency Levels |
Beginning Beginning students have little or no ability to understand and use English. They may know a little English but not enough to function meaningfully in social or academic settings. Intermediate Intermediate students have some ability to understand and use English. They can function in social and academic settings as long as the tasks require them to understand and use simple language structures and high-frequency vocabulary in routine contexts. Advanced Advanced students are able to engage in grade-appropriate academic instruction in English, although ongoing second language acquisition support is needed to help them understand and use grade-appropriate language. These students function beyond the level of simple, routinely used English. Advanced High Advanced High students have attained the command of English that enables them, with minimal second language acquisition support, to engage in regular all-English academic instruction at their grade level.
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Refer to the TELPAS Proficiency Standards webpage for more information, including the range of scale scores for each proficiency level.
TELPAS Alternate Proficiency Levels |
Awareness Students who receive this rating may be aware of English sounds or print; however, they have little or no functional ability to participate in communication activities in English. Imitation Students who receive this rating match, imitate, or approximate some English in their environment; however, they are not able to independently understand or produce English. They participate in routine communication activities in a familiar environment when the activities are significantly linguistically accommodated. Early Independence Students who receive this rating understand short, simple messages and produce messages of one or two high-need, high-frequency words (e.g., book, cafeteria, teacher). They are starting to participate in linguistically accommodated communication activities in English in familiar environments. Developing Independence Students who receive this rating understand longer messages of multiple sentences in English and produce simple, descriptive, original messages by combining two or more words (e.g., new red bike, big fast truck). They participate meaningfully in linguistically accommodated communication activities in English in familiar environments. Basic Fluency Students who receive this rating understand and produce more detailed, complex, and elaborate messages with multiple sentences in English. These students participate independently in communication activities in English in familiar environments.
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Refer to the TELPAS Alternate Proficiency Standards webpage for more information, including the range of scale scores for each proficiency level.
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Composite Score and Rating
TELPAS and TELPAS Alternate results include a composite score and a composite rating. To calculate the composite score, the proficiency rating for each of the domains is converted to a domain score, with 1 for the lowest rating. Since there are four language domains, the domain scores are equally weighted and multiplied by 0.25 and then added together to obtain the composite score. An example composite score is calculated using the following equation, where a student received a score of 3 points in three domains and 2 points in the fourth domain:
(3 × 0.25) + (3 × 0.25) + (3 × 0.25) + (2 × 0.25) = 2.75
For TELPAS, students are required to be rated in all four domains. However, a small subset of emergent bilingual (EB) students with disabilities who cannot be assessed in all four domains will receive a composite score if they have results for at least two domains. This provision applies only to students whose admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee, in conjunction with the language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC), has decided not to evaluate those students in one or two domains. In these scenarios, the scores of the domains that are assessed are equally weighted and added together to calculate the composite score. For example, the composite score for a student who was assessed in only three domains and who received scores of 3 points, 2 points, and 4 points is calculated as follows:
(3 × 0.33) + (2 × 0.33) + (4 × 0.33) = 2.97
For TELPAS Alternate, students are required to be rated in all four domains for their assessments to be submitted and scored. If students are not rated in all four domains, they will not receive any domain ratings, a composite score, or a composite rating.
The composite rating a student receives is based on his or her composite score and the proficiency levels he or she achieves in each domain, according to the descriptor criteria in the tables that follow.
TELPAS Composite Rating Descriptors |
A student will receive a composite rating of | if he or she achieves |
Beginning | |
Intermediate | a composite score of 1.5 or higher, and a minimum proficiency level of Intermediate in at least half of the domains in which the student was assessed
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Advanced | a composite score of 2.5 or higher, a minimum proficiency level of Intermediate in all domains, and a minimum proficiency level of Advanced in at least half of the domains in which the student was assessed
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Advanced High | |
TELPAS Alternate Composite Rating Descriptors |
A student will receive a composite rating of | if he or she achieves |
Awareness | |
Imitation | a composite score of 1.5 or higher, and a minimum proficiency level of Imitation in at least two domains
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Early Independence | a composite score of 2.25 or higher, a minimum proficiency level of Early Independence in at least two domains, and a minimum proficiency level of Imitation in at least three domains
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Developing Independence | a composite score of 3.25 or higher, a minimum proficiency level of Developing Independence in at least two domains, and a minimum proficiency level of Imitation in all domains
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Basic Fluency | a composite score of 4 or higher, a minimum proficiency level of Basic Fluency in at least two domains, and a minimum proficiency level of Early Independence in all domains
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