TSTA calls on state to allow students to take end-of-course assessments virtually

The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) is condemning the state for requiring students to take end-of-course assessments in person amid COVID-19.

“We call on parents to join us in demanding that the governor and the education commissioner relax their unreasonable fixation on standardized testing and put the safety of students, educators and families first,” TSTA President Ovidia Molina said in a release posted on the TSTA website. “They must cancel all STAAR testing during this health crisis, beginning with the upcoming end-of-course exams. STAAR wastes tax dollars and needlessly adds to the stress of an already stressful emergency.”

Molina asserts Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency are endangering the health and safety of Texas students, teachers and communities.

“Just as health experts are warning that the COVID-19 pandemic is entering a particularly dangerous stage, they are ordering thousands of students to return to their campuses before the winter break to take supervised end-of-course exams required for high school graduation,” Molina said in the TSTA release. “These include many students whose parents have decided, in the interest of their families’ safety, to keep their children home all semester for virtual learning.”