AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Education Agency announced Dec 10. that all A-F ratings will be paused for the 2020-21 school year, due to the ongoing disruptions related to COVID-19.
"The issuance of A-F ratings for schools has proven to be a valuable tool." said Texas Education Commissioner, Mike Morath.
"But the pandemic has disrupted school operations in fundamental ways that have often been outside the control of our school leaders, making it far more difficult to use these ratings as a tool to support student academic growth. As a result, we will not issue A-F ratings this school year" he added.
The STAAR test will proceed for this school year.
For schools that use STAAR results for teacher evaluations, TEA will be providing flexibility to allow them to remove that component for this school year.
However, the STAAR test will not be used for accountability purposes for 2020-2021.
Texas school systems are required to make STAAR available to every eligible student.
The test will be administered on school campuses across the state, or at other secure alternative testing sites.
STAAR has stated their tests will continue to be administered in secure environments,"only", as to ensure the results remain quote, "valid and reliable".
Read the full statement available online HERE.
