This week students in public schools across Texas take the state’s standardized test known as the STAAR exam.
This year there are a few changes with the exam. For example, now students have a shorter amount of time to complete the test, and the number of questions students have to answer correctly to pass is going up.
Many of these changes are a result of House Bill 5, introduced by Texas lawmakers during the 83rd legislature.
One of the changes the bill made was reduce the number of STAAR end-of-course exams required in Texas public high schools from 15 to five.
“I think sometimes we solve the wrong problem,” Raymund Paredes, Commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said. “If our students did better on standardized tests than they currently do, there would be less complaining about the test themselves.”
Paredes told the Senate Committees on Education and Higher Education during a joint hearing Tuesday morning, that while studies show there has been a slight improvement in student success since House Bill 5 was implemented, Texas lags behind other states in regards to national college readiness assessments.
“In order to get the definitive data we need to wait until the first cohort of students actually has enough time to graduate from college,” Paredes said.
The first batch of students impacted by House Bill 5 will graduate in the spring of 2018.
“High school graduation rates have been on the upswing in the state,” Mike Morath, Texas Education Commissioner said during his testimony Tuesday morning. “However, that has not translated in any different outcome picture either in college or in the workforce, and it is a little too soon to tell how that picture is going to evolve over time.”
Lawmakers also discussed implementing dual credit courses for high school students to get college credit as well as make higher education more affordable.
Paredes said he is not opposed to that idea, however without any data he doesn’t think lawmakers should make any changes on House Bill 5.
