Testing Calendar 23-24

Testing Announcements 

1. Beginning of the School Year Assessments (BOY) 

All students will be taking their Beginning of the Year Diagnostic Assessments (BOYs) on a designated day/time by their teacher. As diagnostic exams, the BOY is not a grade that will impact your student's average; instead, it will be used as a way for teachers to understand where students stand. That said, please encourage your student to do their best so that their teachers have the best, and most accurate data to guide instructions moving forwards. In addition, the BOY data might be used to adjust your student placement in terms of academic performance. That said, during the first six weeks of the school year, students will be reassessed at three weeks and six weeks. Students who are not meeting educational expectations by end of the 1st cycle will be rescheduled as stipulated by HISD school guidelines.  

2. NWEA Assessments 

These exams are mandated by the district that all students must complete. Please be aware that the tests are imperative because they are used to track your student growth and may be used to determine placements into some classes for the next school year. 

3. PSAT/NMSQT (8th Graders only)

The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is a standardized test administered by the College Board and cosponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). Like the SAT, it measures the knowledge and skills in reading, writing, and math students learn in the classroom - the same knowledge and skills your child needs to succeed in college and career.

Why the PSAT/NMSQT Is Important?

When your child takes the PSAT/NMSQT, they open the door to more benefits than you might think.

All 8th graders will be taking their  PSAT/NMSQT Assessments on 10/11/2023.       

4. District Level Assessments (DLA)

Houston ISD uses District-level Assessments to help teachers better understand what students know and can do.  With the resulting data, teachers can promptly evaluate the effectiveness of their instruction, make any needed adjustments in the class, and address the learning needs of each student. Students will be taking the test on TBD.

5. Midterm Exams (Algebra and Geometry students only)

All Algebra and Geometry students will be taking their Midterm Exams on 12/13/2023 & 12/14/2023. This exam is required and will be counted towards their high school credits.

6. TEA Interim Assessments (STAAR Interim Assessments)

STAAR Interim assessment items are a mixture of former STAAR summative test items and additional items developed with Texas teachers. All items are fully aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The interim assessments use multiple choice items and a type of open-ended question known as a “griddable item” (in mathematics assessments only), which provides students opportunities to derive an answer independently without being influenced by the answer choices provided with the question.

The interim assessments are delivered in an online format. An interim assessment is a form of assessment which is used to 

(1) evaluate where your student are in their learning progress and, 

(2) determine whether they are on track to performing well on future assessments, such as standardized tests (real STAAR) or end-of-course exams (EOC exams).

All students will be taking their STAAR Interim Assessments on 1/23/2024.

7. STAAR Assessments

All students will be taking their STAAR Math 6 - 8, STAAR Algebra EOC on 5/1/2024.

Below are released previous STAAR for your reference:

8. Final Exams (Algebra and Geometry students only)

All Algebra and Geometry students will be taking their Final Exams on 5/22/2024 - 5/23/2024. This exam is required and will be counted towards their high school credits.