STAAR Performance

Background

Student Dashboard Metrics

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, is the state testing program that was implemented in the 2011–2012 school year. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and Texas educators, developed the STAAR program in response to requirements set forth by the 80th and 81st Texas legislatures. STAAR is an assessment program designed to measure the extent to which students have learned and are able to apply the knowledge and skills defined in the state-mandated curriculum standards, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Every STAAR question is directly aligned to the TEKS currently implemented for the grade/subject or course being assessed.

Students in grades 3-8 are assessed in the following subjects:

  • Mathematics (Grades 3-8)
  • Reading (Grades 3-8)
  • Writing (Grades 4, 7)
  • Science (Grades 5, 8)
  • Social Studies (Grade 8) 

STAAR Performance will also include students who took the STAAR Spanish test.

There are three levels of academic performance for the STAAR assessment:

  • Level III: Advanced - student is well prepared and has a high likelihood of success in the next grade or course; student also demonstrates the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in varied contexts both familiar and unfamiliar and will require little to no academic intervention.
  • Level II: Satisfactory– student is sufficiently prepared and has a reasonable likelihood of success in the next grade or course; student also demonstrates the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts and may require short term, targeted academic intervention.
  • Level I: Unsatisfactory– student is inadequately prepared and unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course; student does not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills and will require ongoing academic intervention.

The dashboard will display the student’s scale score.  The scale score is a conversion of the raw score onto a scale that is common to all test forms for that assessment.  It takes into account the difficulty level of the specific set of questions on which it is based.  The scale score also quantifies the students’ performances relative to the passing standards and proficiency levels.  Beginning in 2012-13, students must achieve a Level II on the STAAR assessment to meet the Student Success Initiative (SSI) promotion requirements for grades 5 and 8 reading and mathematics.

Primary Metric

  • STAAR Performance

User Interface

User Interface

Dashboard Example

Figure 1 shows the STAAR Performance metric as seen on the student dashboard.

Figure 1 TSDS STAAR Performance Metric

Status Definition on the Dashboards

This metric provides information regarding a student’s performance on the STAAR Assessment.  The student’s performance level and scale score are displayed. The status indicator is determined by the student’s performance level on the most recent assessment administration for the following subject areas:

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Social Studies

The value displayed for the metric value is the student’s scale score for the most recent administration of the STAAR assessment in each subject area.

Table 2 Metric Indicators for TSDS STAAR 3-8 Performance Metric

Metric Indicator

Trend Comparisons

Metric Name

Sub-metric Name

Metric Status Indicator

Compares:

To:

STAAR Performance

Reading

Red = Level I

Green = Level II, III

N/A

N/A

Writing

Red = Level I

Green = Level II, III

N/A

N/A

Mathematics


Red = Level I

Green = Level II, III

N/A

N/A

Science

Red = Level I

Green= Level II, III

N/A

N/A

Social Studies

Red = Level I

Green = Level II, III

N/A

N/A

(a)   The Metric Status Indicator column displays the student’s performance level for the STAAR assessment.

Trends

There is no trend calculation for this metric.

Periodicity

Best practice is to load the data for this metric each time there are new assessment files.

Table 3 Recommended Load Characteristics for TSDS STAAR 3-8 Performance

Recommended Load Characteristics

Calendar

Late Spring and late summer

Frequency of data load

When new files are available

Latency

Yearly

Interchange schema

Interchange-StudentAssessment.xsd

Tooltips

The standard tool tips for the metric definition, column headers, and help functions display for this metric.

The following are tooltips specific to the metric:

  • Green metric status: Level II, Level III
  • Red metric status: Level I
  • 'More' indicates drill down views for this metric

Business Rules

Business Rules

STAAR, STAAR Modified, and STAAR Alternate will display as separate container metrics.  The granular metrics (subject areas) will display in each of these container metrics.  If a student took one subject area test in STAAR–M or STAAR–Alt, that subject’s granular metric will display under the STAAR–M or STAAR–Alt container metric, while the other subject areas will display under the STAAR container metric.

  • Status is determined by the performance level indicated in the file.
  • Cut scores to determine Level I and Level II cut scores were instituted in Spring 2014.
  • Level III performance level is set at the final recommended standard.
  • If the student did not meet Level II requirements it is inferred that the student’s performance level is Level I.
  • If a student meets Level II requirements it is inferred that the student met Level I requirements.
  • If a student meets Level III requirements it is inferred that the student met Level I and Level II requirements.

What to display:

  • Display container metric only when data is available.
  • Display granular metrics when data becomes available.
  • Do not display this container metric if data is only available for STAAR or STAAR-Alt.
  • If there is no data for a granular metric it will not display.
  • Elementary and Middle school students are included in this metric. 
  • Continue to display most recent STAAR 3-8 results on the student-level academic dashboard even after student advances beyond 8th grade.  These scores will not contribute to a campus roll-up for high schools, and high schools will not appear in the district performance list for this metric.

The STAAR 3-8 Performance includes regularly formatted assessments.  This metric displays a student’s scale score for the following subjects:

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Social Studies

Data Assumptions

  • The data will give us the raw and scale scores.
  • The data will indicate the performance level (Level I, Level II, Level III).
  • The data will provide reporting category information.
  • The data will provide historical information.
  • The data will provide accommodation information for a student.

Computed Values

The data shows the scale score; therefore, there are no computed values for this metric.

  • Status is determined by the performance level indicated in the file.
  • Cut scores to determine Level I and Level II cut scores were instituted Spring 2014.
  • Level III performance level is set at the final recommended standard.
  • If the student did not meet Level II requirements it is inferred that the student’s performance level is Level I.
  • If a student meets Level II requirements it is inferred that the student met Level I requirements.
  • If a student meets Level III requirements it is inferred that the student met Level I and Level II requirements.

What to display:

  • Display container metric only when data is available.
  • Display granular metrics when data becomes available.
  • Do not display this container metric if data is only available for STAAR or STAAR-Alt.
  • If there is no data for a granular metric it will not display.
  • Elementary and Middle school students are included in this metric. 
  • Continue to display most recent STAAR 3-8 results on the student-level academic dashboard even after student advances beyond 8th grade.  These scores will not contribute to a campus roll-up for high schools, and high schools will not appear in the district performance list for this metric.

Data Anomalies

  • Metrics are sensitive to when and how often the data is loaded
  • Early education and Pre-Kindergarten students and students in grades 1 and 2 will not have data for this metric even though the metric will appear under the State Assessments tab.
  • Students receiving instruction in a grade higher than the grade in which they are enrolled will be assessed at the higher level if the content covers the entire curriculum for that subject.
  • Some students may have taken the exam, but the file reports “No Score”.  The metric status should display “Taken” in this case, with no scale score.
  • “Taken” will also display on the historical assessment exam.
  • Late enrollees may have taken the STAAR at their previous school.
  • Data will be loaded from multiple administration dates.
  • STAAR metric will display the most recent exam data.

Date of Refresh

Best practice is for the date of the last data refresh to appear next to the metric in the following format:

  • (Through April 2010)

Implementation Considerations

STAAR Apparent Non-Participation

The STAAR assessments are administered in spring and summer. Students’ non-participation can only be detected to the extent that the district has received and loaded timely test result data from STAAR. Information from one district’s coordinator indicated the STAAR deliveries of results were “random” throughout the year.

STAAR Participation Expectation

Students will take the STAAR assessments in grades 3-8.  Proper application of the metric requires the district or campus establish clear expectations for when students should take the STAAR assessments based on state requirements, and if a student has not taken the assessments, at what point an intervention is in order.

Incomplete Transcripts and Missing STAAR Scores

If a transfer student was not previously enrolled in a studentGPS district, the student may have an incomplete transcript that does not show prior STAAR participation.

Drill Downs

Drill Down View

This metric includes the option to drill down for information that is associated with this metric. Table 5 lists the drill down views that are defined for this metric.

Table 5 Metric Drill Down Views for STAAR Performance

Reporting CategoriesThe detail view shows the reporting categories for the most recent STAAR assessments the student has taken.

 

The objective is to provide a measure of readiness for the next grade level.

User Interface Notes

Dashboard Example

Figure 2 shows the STAAR Performance Reporting Categories Drill Downon the student dashboard.

Figure 2 STAAR Performance Reporting Categories

Business Rules

  • The Reporting Categories will display a numerator/denominator format.
  • Numerator = number of questions answered correctly for the reporting category, Denominator = total number of questions for the reporting category
  • The status indicator will display:
  • Green = if student percent correct on the reporting category is above 70%
  • Red = if student percent correct on the reporting category is below 70%
  • A student’s performance on Reporting Categories may not be an indication of the student’s performance level on the overall exam.

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