End the Staar Era: Make Assessments About Learning, Not Labels

Richard A. Tagle, Guest columnist, Austin-American Statesman

As seen in the Austin-American Statesman, July 18, 2025

As Texas legislators start their special session Monday and debate what should replace the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test, they should consider a fundamental question: What is the purpose of student assessments in the first place?

If assessments don’t help students grow, support educators in improving instruction, or give families honest, actionable information, then we’ve lost sight of why they matter in the first place. The original promise of assessments was powerful tools that could help educators personalize instruction, identify where students need the most help and track progress toward real learning. But over time, that purpose has been drowned out by high-stakes pressure, school labeling and punitive accountability systems that tell us more about a ZIP code than a student’s potential.

Let’s get back to the original intent.

In today’s classrooms — often overcrowded and under-resourced — it’s nearly impossible for teachers to individualize support without help. Well-designed, authentic assessments can help. They must be more than a score on a report card; they should serve as a roadmap for better engagement and learning. Done right, assessments can do four critical things:

Pinpoint where students need support. Not just identify who is “passing” or “failing,” but pinpoint which specific skills or concepts a student is struggling with. This allows targeted interventions and differentiated teaching.

Guide smarter investment of resources. If data shows widespread gaps in literacy in third grade or algebra readiness in middle school, that’s where professional development, tutoring and curriculum support should go. Resources can also mean what the community can galvanize: mentoring, tutoring, coaching or other support through community programs outside of school.

Elevate innovation in teaching and family engagement. Assessment insights should spark new ideas. Are students more engaged when learning through hands-on projects or when families are part of the process? We can’t answer that if we rely only on multiple-choice tests.

Align policy, practice and funding. Policymakers need feedback loops that show what’s working and what’s not. Assessment data can bridge classrooms, community, corporate involvement and Capitol halls — if used wisely.

What assessments should not do is rank and punish. When tests become tools for profiling schools instead of improving them, no one benefits. Teachers teach the test. Students feel like numbers (or worse, lab rats). Families get discouraged. And communities are left with more blame than solutions.

High-stakes accountability without equally high investment in improvement is both unfair and ineffective.

The STAAR era taught us one thing: It’s easy to test but hard to teach. The next chapter in Texas education policy must start with a bold but simple shift. Assessments must serve learning, not label it.

To the legislators returning to Austin, let’s design assessments that reflect our belief in every student’s potential and our responsibility to help them reach it. Let’s build a system that earns the trust of teachers and the engagement of families and the community at large. Let’s stop measuring learning as a compliance exercise and start using it as a tool for change.

It’s time to stop asking “How did students score?” and start asking “How can we help students, families and teachers — as a team — grow together?”

Richard A. Tagle is the president and executive director of E3 Alliance, a nonprofit organization that uses data to drive action in Texas education systems.