Jacksboro schools weigh-in on STAAR mishaps

A whole lot went wrong with this year’s standardized testing for Texas students. From reports of questions with no correct answers, answers deleted on computerized version and delays in results, the latest disappointing development is that the Texas Education Agency announced last week that no third test would be given for fifth and eighth graders who did not pass it the first two times.

The TEA opted to waive the requirement for fifth and eighth grade students to pass the STAAR test in order to be promoted to the next grade level and also canceled the third test administration scheduled for this week.

The action is a result of issues with missing tests and delayed results from the test company Educational Testing Service.

Jacksboro ISD Superintendent Dwaine Milam could sum up his disappointment in one word — frustrated. He attended a meeting at Region 9 this week in which TEA Commissioner Mike Morath addressed the problems.

“He’s pretty frustrated and we share his feelings,” Milam said. “We’re frustrated that we’ve got some students that need to take the assessment a third time. We hate for them to miss the opportunity. 

“We’re frustrated that we haven’t gotten our results back in a timely fashion in most of our testing this year. The frustration comes in that our students and teachers put so much time and effort into those assessments and we don’t have the results to see how we did.”

Other issues include five students within JISD who took the exam that ETS have no idea where the scores are.

“That’s one of the things we’ve had to work with this year,” he said.

Milam said Morath assured the educators present that he and the TEA are doing all they can to work with ETS, the testing company, to get the issues resolved. 

To read the complete article, see the June 24 edition of the Herald-Gazette.