BRYAN, Texas — Mandy Williams spends each day designing lesson plans and curriculum as an instruction coach within Sadberry Intermediate School.
Her goal is to help teachers teach students better in English-Language Arts.
Now, she is facing a big challenge, preparing teachers and students for the STAAR assessment's new format.
"We did not receive scoring guides and samples and rubrics from [Texas Education Agency] until late October 2022, so when we finally received the information, we put in immediate revisions into the curriculum," Williams said.
The Texas Education Agency released STAAR grades for Spring 2023 for third through eighth grade, and students from Bryan ISD performed better in areas like reading and math than in previous years.
Students took the new format of the test, answering more open-ended questions like short-written responses and fill-in-the-blank questions.
The old design only asked multiple-choice questions.
Superintendent Ginger Carrabine says the change is drastic but tells parents not to worry.
"We are committed to meeting the needs of all our students and prepare them to be well-rounded students to be successful once they graduate from Bryan ISD," Carrabine said.
But Williams is implementing curriculum like writing, reading comprehension and phonics.
Other subjects like science will expand its curriculum to include engineering where students learn to find solutions to problems.
Now, Williams hopes the work pays off.
"I want my teachers and my students to feel successful and success looks different for each student and each teacher, but I want to build that competency," Williams said.
The district has not received their accountability scores yet, but expect them to be lower than last year's 'B' score due to scoring changes.
They expect the scores to come in September.
For more information, Superintendent Carrabine encourages parents to speak with teachers, counselors and principals for more information about scoring.