SBOE Committee of the Full Board – January 28, 2022

SBOE Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund – January 27, 2022

SBOE Committee on Instruction – January 27, 2022

SBOE Committee on School Initiatives – January 27, 2022

SBOE Committee of the Full Board – January 25, 2022

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath spoke before the State Board of Education (SBOE) on January 28th to discuss aspects of the STAAR redesign under HB 3906 (86R) and to answer questions from SBOE members. An archive video of this meeting can be found here.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

Commissioner Morath’s Comments to the SBOE – January 28, 2022

Commissioner Mike Morath, Texas Education Agency

  • HB 3906 (2019) – Requires us to redesign STAAR test; Requires us to engage in R&D work to figure out if it’s possible to do smaller tests throughout the year, has not yet happened yet, but working on pilot for feasibility
  • Will be speaking on the STAAR improvements, incl. 75% multiple choice cap, transition to online testing, reimplementation of federal guidelines
  • STAAR upgrade is not to improve accuracy of the test, test have been proven reliable and questions tightly aligned to student expectations set by SBOE
  • Has been heavily studied via measures like HB 743(84) and HB 3 (86), STAAR is an effective way to gauge grade level mastery
  • Not a question of accuracy, but question of if there are design improvements that can improve curricula experience
  • 4 key concepts
    • Coherently building student’s background knowledge, not have just passages on random topics
    • Asking students to write about what they read using evidence from the text
    • Providing various open-ended formats, not just multiple choice
    • Appropriate accommodations
  • STAAR redesign will prioritize cross-curricular redesign, incl. writing in all RLA tests, incl. as many non-multiple choice questions as possible, and ensure accommodations for learners are as robust as possible
  • Highlights importance of reading & formula: decoding x language comp = reading comp; well-studied & decoding needs to be explicitly taught, language comprehension is another important aspect
  • Describes Wisconsin student exercise where students were asked to read a passage about baseball and re-enact, kids with most knowledge of baseball did the best at re-enactment
  • Research shows that knowledge of a topic has much bigger impact on comprehension than generalized reading ability; exposure to concept allows students to draw meaning from the rest of the text
  • STAAR is highly accurate at testing literacy, but there are a high number of low-income students without sufficient background knowledge and we are not making them literate; need to fix approach
  • Provides visual showcasing importance of teachers building background knowledge and vocabulary, e.g. a student with actual experience of & context for the Alamo will have a connection to a social studies lesson on the battle
  • Effective schools are building deep, coherent background knowledge across a student’s curriculum
  • No challenge with STAAR in assessing literacy, provides overview of process for passage selection
  • STAAR redesign will not include passages without identification of specific cross-curricular links; provides examples of these passages, e.g. including aspects from the science curriculum in the RLA passage
  • Will be choosing passages deliberately to cover science, social studies, etc. TEKS
  • Also trying to reinforce the idea that writing is important; reading & writing are reciprocal processes
  • Not just written response in 4th, will be writing at all grade levels
  • Provides examples of current writing prompts and upcoming writing redesigned prompts; current STAAR passages can assess literacy, but do not necessarily support literacy
  • Redesigned questions will ask students to write using evidence from the text
  • Not about making assessment more accurate, about signaling to the rest of the curriculum
  • Multiple choice questions are similar, great at assessing, but not at developing knowledge
  • Provides example of asking students to write a cause & effect paragraph after reading a statement about an event
  • Can be applied to other subjects, e.g. ask the student to illustrate the fraction in a math question instead of pick from multiple choices, or ask for paragraph description
  • Committee of Texas educators must sign-off on every question before field testing
  • Involved huge numbers of current educators in assessing the redesign questions, overwhelming majority think they will do a better job of assessment, keep students engaged, etc.
  • Also working on robust supports for students, need to ensure the supports available in the classroom are available on the STAAR; play example video of text-to-speech reader
  • Online accommodations are also important
  • Don’t want to see endless practice tests for no reason; prefers use of STAAR Interim Assessment, Texas Formative Assessment Resource (TFAR)
  • This is part of the move to online assessments, most of the state is moving towards online assessments
  • Not effective this year, lands in Spring of 2023
  • STAAR test is built by teachers, always in need of volunteers, highlights website to nominate teachers
  • Releasing sample items for every item type this week, will have practice tests by the Fall, and field testing is ongoing
  • Won’t affect accuracy, hope is that changes will change backwards design behavior for the better in classrooms; will make it much harder for teaching to the test to occur in a negative way & will promote teaching standards of the SBOE

 

Questions

  • Georgina Perez, SBOE – Had a very troubling report from US HHS concerning sexual abuse at child detention center, sponsoring entity of center in question is Sunny Glenn and is also sponsor of a current charter application; proposed school is New Hop Resiliency Academy
    • Morath – Will need to find out
  • Ruben Cortez, SBOE – Would like this information shared with SBOE
  • Cortez – Regarding attendance, attendance is low, substitutes are in high demand; have families concerned about sending kids to school, is TEA doing anything to ensure funding gaps don’t occur?
    • Morath – Something we’re concerned about, we don’t have real-time attendance data
    • Looking at policy options, nothing to report yet or promise; have adjusted repeatedly throughout the pandemic and will continue to adjust
  • Cortez – Info provided this morning was helpful
  • Marisa Perez-Diaz, SBOE – Sunny Glenn board members are the same as for the new proposed charter, want us to take a deep dive as to why this charter is being considered
    • Morath – Applications don’t mean charter is being considered, application process is rigorous, long, and hard to get through; will investigate
  • Perez-Diaz, SBOE – You stated that there aren’t any states doing smaller summative assessments, was the intent of the bill to move to a formative assessment?
    • Morath – No, formative assessments are designed to inform future curricula; goal was to improve summative assessment
  • Lawrence Allen, SBOE – Asks after differing district strategies; some districts are saying TEA feels like a self-reporting agency
    • Morath – Best way to assess student progress is the end-of-year state plan, will know how efforts worked in June when we can begin diagnosing
    • Have many touchpoints with districts who want to engage more to give us operational insights
    • Aware of many bright spots, but very large challenge to recover from the disruption
    • TEA’s enforcement framework isn’t meant to be everywhere at once, respond to complaints
    • Courts also play a role
  • Rebecca Bell-Metereau, SBOE – Concerned about appointment of Stephen Balch to Advisory Comm. on Social Studies due to inflammatory comments
    • Morath – Out of my expertise, strictly a matter for the SBOE
  • Will Hickman, SBOE – Have spoken about considering periodic smaller tests and using AI for grading
  • Audrey Young, SBOE – Dyslexia handbook?
    • Morath – It’s posted, has taken effect and working to support the field
  • Tom Maynard, SBOE – Appreciates investment work
    • Morath – Looking forward to not handling this
  • Patricia Hardy, SBOE – Will there be a district report card from the Spring STAAR?
    • Morath – yes
  • Aicha Davis, SBOE – Colleague said that any charter with a 1619 Project should be eliminated; what are the trigger words that eliminate applicants?
    • Morath – No trigger words, there is a statutory prohibition about the 1619 Project, unlawful to teach
  • Pam Little, SBOE – Is there a mechanism to check if words in the writing prompts are words students know? Cites example of investment capital being used in a question
    • Morath – Complex and fascinating question; only way to set a strong set of expectations is for SBOE to consider this along with the student expectations
    • Could publish a book list and vocabulary guide as an addendum to student expectations
    • Could be a significant improvement
  • Chair Keven Ellis, SBOE – Massachusetts does have this broken down on grade levels & we do have a TEKS guide
    • Morath – As a base expectation it can be attached to student expectation, technical assistance would be a different matter
    • Would want to bring anything done in the technical assistance space back before this body