Petroplex News

State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) is the latest to join the movement towards suspending the high-stakes accountability ratings of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam through May 2021.

He sent a letter to Texas Education Agency Commissioner (TEA) Mike Morath, requesting that he eliminate the STAAR for the upcoming academic year and obtain waivers from the U.S. Department of Education.

“The STAAR test will cause all of the regular damage it always causes – student and teacher anxiety, lesson plans that teach to the test, false measurements of student achievement that lead to poorly informed decisions – and then some,” Landgraf told Petroplex News. “Students who have to learn from home for various reasons will be adversely impacted, especially students in low-income families or in our most rural parts of the state as they often have little to no access to high-speed internet. The playing field is not fair.”

After Gov. Greg Abbott suspended the controversial testing program in May due to the COVID-19 shutdown, the Wichita Falls Independent School District, State Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Denton), State Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) and State Rep. Matt Shaheen also announced support for waiving accountability ratings. 

“The number of positive COVID-19 cases continues to rise and with it, hospitalizations and tragically deaths,” Landgraf said in an interview. “Many parents will opt to have their children learn from home in order to keep them or members of their family who are at higher risk from contracting and spreading COVID-19. This brings significant challenges to teachers who are already overburdened by the star test in regular school years.”

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services reported 282,365 coronavirus cases and 3,432 fatalities as of July 16.

In a July 13, 2020 Facebook post, Landgraf revealed he had filed a bill to scrap the STAAR exam permanently during the last Texas Legislature session, according to media reports.

“The bill didn’t pass but I still don’t believe STAAR is good for students, teachers or taxpayers,” he said. “Now that so much uncertainty confronts Texas children and educators, the last thing we need in 2021 is STAAR.”

Landgraf’s House colleague, Rep. Matt Krause, filed HB 2113, which would have reduced state assessment requirements in order to meet the minimum standards necessary to obtain federal education funding.

“I hope he files again in 2021,” Landgraf said in an interview. “HB 2113 might not be the very best method available but it is the best method I've seen that still complies with federal requirements.”

As previously reported in the Lone Star Standard, STAAR results are used to evaluate performance in reading, writing, math, science and social studies for 3rd- through 12th-grade students, but the coronavirus has caused inconsistent student participation and other virtual learning deficiencies. An Opt-Out Texas Facebook group helps parents demand that their children not be subjected to the STAAR requirements, and Teachers for Texas has begun circulating a petition.