Group Pushing STAAR Tests Alternative to Meet

DALLAS (AP) — A group of Texas school districts is moving ahead with its effort to come up with a new way to evaluate students, even after a major setback.

The Dallas Morning News reported (http://dallasne.ws/1glQjqc ) that members of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium will meet Thursday in Dallas. The consortium supports an alternative to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, known as STAAR.

STAAR tests are criticized by advocates of evaluating students strictly with testing.

The Legislature this session passed a bill that would have let 23 districts in the group bypass some STAAR tests and state ratings. But Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.

The districts say they'll go ahead with creating an alternate system, even as they still abide by statewide standards.

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Information from: The Dallas Morning News

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