Zaffirini: Set aside STAAR tests for 2020-21 school year

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini said the upcoming school year will be enough of a test without the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests.

The tests were set aside in the spring as the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools. Resuming them this year, with numerous uncertainties surrounding classes, schedules and access to facilities, has been a subject of considerable debate this summer.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told the state Board of Education that STAAR will resume this year. Zaffirini, a Democrat from Laredo in her ninth term, has 13 years of teaching experience and a passion for education.

“I disagree with TEA’s decision to administer the STAAR test in the 2020-21 school year,” Zaffirini told Education Daily Wire. “This year is going to be about recovery — academically, emotionally, and otherwise. Engaging in high-stakes testing not only sets the wrong priorities for our teachers and students, but also would yield completely meaningless results.”

She said the pandemic has exposed a cultural divide that would make testing an unfair proposition.

“Researchers have identified the ‘COVID drain’ — basically, the amount of academic progress lost during the months of school closures — and, unsurprisingly, it correlates strongly with socioeconomic status: The poorer the family, the farther behind the student gets,” said Zaffirini. “Some children, especially in low-income or rural communities, received little to no instruction because they lacked access to broadband internet. In effect, administering the STAAR this year would yield results that reflect the circumstances in which a student lives, not a comparison of the quality of instruction he or she receives (and the related learning that ensues).”

Zaffirini earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin — graduating with a 3.9 GPA in each — and also studied at Laredo Community College and the University of Houston.

While she has made her name in Texas politics, including achieving a near-perfect voting record and being the first Hispanic woman elected to the Texas Senate, Zaffirini also has been honored for her career as a journalist and communications specialist.

Laredo Community College's Senator Judith Zaffirini Library and Texas A&M International University's Senator Judith Zaffirini Student Success Center were named for her, as were as the Senator Judith Zaffirini Road and Senator Judith Zaffirini Elementary School in Laredo and the AAMA Judith Zaffirini Residential Center in Edinburg.

She has earned a reputation for working with legislators of all political stripes to achieve many things during more than three decades in the state Senate.

Legislators on both sides of the aisle have called on the TEA to call off STAAR tests this year, and the Texas State Teachers Association, never a fan of the tests to begin with, also wants them set aside.

Zaffirini said there are several valid reasons to not hold STAAR tests this year.

“The concerns for students and teachers regarding high-stakes tests like the STAAR include the pressure they cause, the unfairness and invalidity of the results they secure, and the seriousness of their related consequences,” she said. “For students, they cause significant emotional stress and insecurities about self-worth: Children who don't do well often feel ‘less-than,’ and that's in the best of circumstances. Given what's happened this year, what value is there in forcing the stress of testing upon them, especially when we can't trust the results? Their need to learn is important, but it’s tempered by their being done a disservice and neglecting their other needs.”

The people at the front of the classroom will have enough on their minds, she said.

“Administering the STAAR during the next academic year also would be unfair and hurtful to teachers. The test is used to evaluate them and their schools and affects their livelihoods,” the senator said. “They will face the challenges of meeting the needs and interests of children who have been out of school for six months and away from their friends and who reflect varying levels of progress. Do we really need to add a test that cannot possibly be accurate but nonetheless will affect their job status, salary, etc.? I don’t think so.”

Zaffirini said it's certainly not fair to ask for Texas schools, educators and students to be held to these standards while they are adjusting to and recovering from a disrupted learning environment.

“The world’s been turned completely around for everyone, especially for our children who cannot fully comprehend what is happening,” she said. “The standard should be simple: Recover. Let's start moving back to normal."

“Worse, though, than holding our students and teachers to pre-pandemic standards would be punishing them for failing to meet those standards,” Zaffirini said. “I don’t understand the rationale for administering the test as scheduled, but if it's evaluative — if we'll be giving schools and districts ‘A’ through ‘F’ grades and so on — many of us will be extremely disappointed.”

It will be difficult to ensure that education standards are being met and children are not falling behind, she admitted. This will be a very challenging time, and communities, school districts and families must be empowered to make their way through it.

“This pandemic has affected every child and every community differently,” Zaffirini said. “If we don't start from a common place, how can any test we administer evaluate our educators' performance or our students' learning?"

“I'm not suggesting we say, ‘Live and let live’ and whatever happens this year happens,” she said. “I’m saying it should be up to local communities to decide what's best for their children to weather this crisis, stay safe, and continue to learn — not the state government overseeing 30 million persons.”

But the Texas can still serve its schools and students well, Zaffirini said. She has ideas on how that can work.

“That doesn’t mean the state shouldn’t have a role in this matter: We should be facilitators,” Zaffirini said. “We should invest heavily, for example, in broadband access so all children have the means to continue learning if the pandemic takes a dangerous turn in their communities. We should be providing financial resources, personal protective equipment, and, critically, expertise to help our local leaders do the best job they can.

“Eventually, we’ll find our way back to normal. Maybe the STAAR will be appropriate then, or maybe it won’t — but it certainly isn’t now.”