With pencils in hand and Chromebooks on desks, students sit down, prepared for the test of the year. As they log in to the Secure Test Browser, everything they learned throughout the year runs through their mind on repeat. This test that students wait for all year long remains the last thing between the school year and summer break. 

The annual State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test appears to be the main concern on students’ minds throughout the year. The state requires this test, which summarizes all the information learned in the past year and measures the academic performance of all students in the state of Texas; however, legislation created a new plan for evaluating students’ knowledge in place of the usual STAAR test. Texas legislatures decided that the test should be divided into three different sections and given to students at the beginning, middle and end of the year. While this idea remains in the process of planning, the change will be implemented during the 2027-28 school year. Many students and teachers at Texas High hold differing opinions on the new tests; some show support, while others do not.

“I think [the new tests] will help future students, because they’ll have to remain focused in the middle of the year, instead of just cramming in all the studying at the end of the year,” freshman Ava Burnett said. “It will [also] show the progress with the middle and end of the year as opposed to [just] the beginning.”

While some believe this change could lead to benefits, others, such as senior Jamaiyah Ramos, feel that it will not fix the problem legislators are trying to address.

“I don’t feel like it’s necessary to take away the STAAR [test] or separate [it] in any form or fashion,” Ramos said. “We [have] bigger fish to fry.”

Other students and faculty show concerns about how the exams will work with high school unit tests already in place. 

“I don’t know how it’s gonna work with the high school level because we have EOCs, and those are graduation requirements for the state. It gives me a little, I guess, not anxiety, but maybe just question(s),” assistant principal Natasha Jones said. “If we could take away some of these other required tests, such as benchmarks, [the system] should work.”

Although the adjustment could prove difficult, it demonstrates potential to serve as a stress reliever for numerous students.

“It could be a really positive change, because instead of one five-hour-long test, kids could have a much smaller, intense measure of what they know,” English teacher Kara Wicks said. “It allows students three different opportunities to show what they know instead of just one day.”

In addition to benefiting students, Wicks believes the new testing format could also help teachers.

“I think that it could give teachers [better] data,” Wicks said. “Instead of having data at the end of the year in May, when they don’t even see those kids anymore, they could use [the data] to plan future lessons.”

These new tests show potential for either positive or negative effects. However, the system can create many new opportunities for students to improve that weren’t possible before, such as better lesson plans, lessened work loads and dramatically reduced stress.

“It was a shocker to me to know that the same test I took at the end of the year for the past 12 years is going to be gone,” Ramos said. “I think it’s revealing that things are changing, and I can only hope for the best in the future.¨