Over 50 Houston-area schools across 14 districts are witnessing a surge in parents opting their children out of the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) exams this year.
While most Texas students will be taking these tests in reading, math, science and social studies between April 9 and May 3, Houston parents are making a stand against the way these assessments are used to focus on test performance rather than learning.
One HISD parent Kortney Revels decided to opt her third-grade child out of taking the exam. She believes the only way for effective change to happen is if parents start “putting pressure and taking action.”
“It’s time for us to have new policies when it comes to how we set the graduation standards. This standardized test is not the best way to gauge if our kids have learned the information we think they should learn by the time of graduation,” she said. “This is really the most effective protest that we have.”
A Nationwide Movement
The movement to opt out of standardized testing isn’t new, and Houston has been at the forefront of this fight for years. In 2014, Claudia de Leon became the first parent to publicly opt her son out of STAAR. Two years later, over 500 Houston-area parents followed suit.
Nationally, New York saw a similar trend in 2015, with 20% (200,000 students) of students opting out of standardized tests. Soon after, the state placed a four-year moratorium on using them to evaluate teachers.
In certain districts, opt-out percentages reached as high as 89%. In others, particularly in districts with lower incomes, the figures remained below the federally mandated participation threshold of 5%, which was the state average from the previous year.
Opt-outs happened in several other states including Florida, Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. In a specific school, even tiny numbers can have an influence. This is because, according to the federal testing statute known as No Child Left Behind, a school may be classified as “failing to make progress” if fewer than 95% of kids take the test.
“The recent HISD takeover exemplifies how these tests are used against students and educators,” says Ruth Kravetz, co-founder of Community Voices for Public Education in a statement. “Texas is one of the few states clinging to outdated practices.”
Rethinking Accountability: Equity and Resources Over Rankings
Texas is among a small group of states that mandate standardized testing for graduation and assign letter grades (A-F) to schools based on test scores. Research overwhelmingly shows that these letter grades don’t provide meaningful information about a school’s effectiveness. Yet, the HISD takeover was based on low scores at just one school.
Texas Education Agency (TEA) guidelines confirm that grades 3-8 students opting out will still be promoted, provided they pass their classes and meet attendance requirements. A 2021 law allows opt-out students or those who fail STAAR to decline mandatory summer school or tutorials. High school opt-out requires alternative assessments and other pathways to graduation.
“Forty-two states don’t tie standardized testing to graduation rates or promotion or teacher evaluations, but Texas is one of eight who does,” Kravetz told the Defender. “We’re not saying that kids don’t have to show some evidence of learning, but that evidence is the grade that they receive in the classroom by the teacher who knows them.”
The TEA also states that when parents submit an opt-out letter, schools are not obligated to administer the test on make-up days. Some parents choose to keep their children home on test days and send them back on make-up days. Others arrange with the school to move their child to a non-tested grade on the first day. Opt-out field trips are another creative solution employed by some families.
For more information and updates, visit optouttexas.net.
The STAAR testing windows are: ELA & Reading (April 9-19), Science & Social Studies (April 16-26), and Math (April 23-May 3).
