TSTA against resuming STAAR testing

The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) is against the recent decision to go ahead with STAAR testing in the midst of the pandemic, the agency reported in a TSTA-issued release.

TSTA President Noel Candelaria said in a statement that he didn't believe that the state should even be thinking of testing right now.

“We are in the middle of a health emergency, we don’t even know for sure what form education is going to take this fall, and the state education commissioner has announced that STAAR testing will resume," Candelaria said in the release. "The Texas State Teachers Association has a better idea: Let’s continue the time out on STAAR testing."

Candelaria said there were many things that needed more focus at the moment.

“Standardized testing should be the last priority for students, educators and policymakers," Candelaria said in the release. "There are other, much more crucial priorities for the state, beginning with a plan for safe schools, a plan for returning students, teachers and employees safely to classrooms, but only after the pandemic has begun to subside, not while COVID cases are still increasing."

The STAAR exams are also wasteful in the best of times.

“Even under normal circumstances, STAAR exams waste millions of tax dollars, and that waste will be even more critical now that the state and school districts will be suffering millions of dollars in lost revenue from the pandemic," Candelaria said in the release. "Our schools can’t afford the loss of more tax dollars on testing, and our students and educators can’t afford the distraction as they continue to adjust to new methods of teaching and learning."

Candelaria urged the state to not focus on testing and to, instead, focus on the students.

"Let’s close the learning gap, not enrich testing companies," Candelaria said in the release.