According to an October 23 TEA Performance Reporting Update:
The STAAR progress measure is calculated based on a student’s gain score—the scale score difference between the current year and the prior year, while STAAR Alternate 2 progress measures are determined by a student’s stage change from the prior year to the current year. Since STAAR testing was suspended for spring and summer 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, this year’s calculation differs slightly and measures progress across two years, from 2018–2019 to 2020–2021.
Due to the gap year, it would be a rare scenario for students enrolled in grade 4 in the 2020–2021 school year to be enrolled in grade 3 in 2018–2019 school year. Therefore, STAAR progress measures will not be calculated for grade 4 students. English II progress measures for the 2020–2021 school year will use 2018–2019 school year English I scale scores as the prior year data.
STAAR progress measures will be calculated for STAAR and STAAR Alternate 2 for the following grade levels and subject areas:
- Grade 5 Reading English, Reading Spanish (STAAR only), Mathematics English, and Mathematics Spanish (STAAR only)
- Grade 6 Reading and Mathematics
- Grade 7 Reading and Mathematics
- Grade 8 Reading and Mathematics
- Algebra I
- English I (STAAR Alternate 2 only)
- English II
While 2020–2021 STAAR progress measure outcomes will be provided on STAAR data files, whether they will be used for 2021 academic accountability evaluations in the School Progress and Closing the Gaps domains in the same manner as in the past has yet to be determined.
