Teacher Incentive Allotment: STAAR Progress Measure Changes

For the 2022–2023 school year, the STAAR progress measure (SPM) will not be available for reading language arts (RLA) or mathematics. Districts who use the SPM for the student growth component of their TIA local designation system will need to select an alternative option prior to September 15, 2022.  

Change in Academic Accountability

Accountability in Texas schools is shifting this year. The SPM will no longer be used for academic accountability for the following reasons:

• The redesign of the RLA STAAR assessment
• Induction of new item types for all subject areas including mathematics (fewer multiple-choice options)
• Testing for students will fully be online this school year for all schools
• TEA needs to create new vertical scales for RLA and mathematics scoring

Beginning with the current school year, transition tables will be the new measure used for the School Progress, Part A: Academic Growth domain of the academic accountability system. All schools will be scored on academic growth using the transition tables for measurement. The SPM will return in the 2023–2024 school year, but it will not be used for academic accountability.

More information about changes in the academic accountability system can be found in the Preliminary 2023 Academic Accountability System Framework on the TEA website.

Choosing a Replacement for the STAAR Progress Measure

Districts who currently use the SPM for the growth component of the local designation system for TIA must make a change to the growth component for this school year. Districts have several options to choose from, but all districts who participate in TIA must have a student growth component that provides evidence of validity and reliability of development, administration, and scoring.

For those districts that participate in TIA with a local designation system, TEA recommends districts use transition tables to replace the SPM. At this time, the detailed transition tables are not finalized, but more information will be published soon by TEA.

Transition tables will do the following:

• Measure academic growth for all students who take a required assessment
• Provide cut points for “high” and “low” in each comparison category
• Use standard deviation of scale scores
• Include additional assessment titles of English I, Spanish language RLA to English language RLA, and end-of-course (EOC) retests

TEA recommends TIA districts change to transition tables for the following reasons:

• Transition tables are the replacement for the SPM and will be one of the measurements for academic accountability starting this school year. Since this new growth measure is required to be used by all schools in the new system, it should be an easy transition for districts to adopt this measurement into their TIA designation system framework.
• Additional teaching assignments are included under this option which gives districts the choice to add additional assignments that apply to the transition tables. All teaching assignments that formerly applied to the SPM are included, as well as new assignments that have state-developed assessments tied to a specific area. Districts can choose to add some or all of the new teaching assignments without submitting a new application.
• Transition tables will be the most user-friendly growth component option because they are easy to understand and the measurement links directly to the accountability system required in schools.

Although TEA recommends TIA districts use transition tables as the measurement for student growth, districts could choose to replace the SPM with one of the following options:

• Locally calculated growth: Districts can calculate expected growth locally by using one of the common methods for setting expected growth targets, or they can create a method locally to calculate growth.
• Third-party assessments: Districts can use a previously approved third-party assessment with vendor-created expected growth targets to measure growth.
• Previously approved growth measure: Districts can use a previously approved student growth measure for other eligible teaching assignments (i.e., SLOs or portfolios). This measure must have been previously approved in the local designation system.
• Removing teachers from the current local designation system: Districts can choose to remove eligible teaching assignments that were previously using the SPM. This option could significantly change the current local designation system because it would remove teachers from the current system, and the district would have to complete an Expansions/Modifications application to add the removed teachers back into the system in the future.

It is important to note that the chosen replacement will be a permanent change to the local designation system, so districts need to choose an option that fits their system for at least this school year and possibly beyond.

Next Steps

Districts participating in TIA that have a local designation system and are using the SPM for student growth will need to decide on a replacement measure as soon as possible. Once decided, districts need to ensure all stakeholders are informed of the change, especially the affected teachers. Districts will also need to submit their replacement option to TEA by September 15, 2022, at the following Qualtrics link: No STAAR Progress Measure 2022-23. Additional resources are available at the TIA website.